China hits back with report on U.S. human rights record

Xinhua, April 11, 2011

HIGHEST INCIDENCE OF VIOLENT CRIMES

One out of every five people is a victim of a crime in the United States every year, said the report.

The United States reports the world' s highest incidence of violent crimes, and its people's lives, properties and personal security are not duly protected, the report said.

In 2009, an estimated 4.3 million violent crimes, 15.6 million property crimes and 133,000 personal thefts were committed against U.S. residents aged 12 or older, and the violent crime rate was 17.1 victimizations per 1,000 persons, said the report, quoting figures from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The United States also ranks first in the world in terms of the number of privately-owned guns and has high incidence of gun-related crimes, said the report, noting that the United States exercised lax control on the already rampant gun ownership.

Some 90 million people own an estimated 200 million guns in the United States, which has a population of about 300 million, the report said citing figures from the public media.

Statistics showed there were 12,000 gun murders a year in the United States, the report said.

The report also said that the frequent campus shootings in colleges in the United States came to the spotlight in recent years.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION DEEP-SEATED

"Racial discrimination, deep-seated in the United States, has permeated every aspect of social life," said the report.

Minority groups confront discrimination in their employment and occupation. The black people are treated unfairly or excluded in promotion, welfare and employment, the report quoted U.S media reports as saying.

It is reported that one-third of black people confronted discrimination at work, against which only one-sixteenth of the black people would lodge a complaint.

The New York Times reported on September 23, 2010 that by the end of September 30, 2009, Muslim workers had filed a record 803 claims of complaints over employment discrimination, up 20 percent from the previous year.

The report said U.S. minority groups have high unemployment rate, and do not enjoy the same political status as white people.

Poverty proportion for U.S. minorities is high in the United States. The poverty proportion of the black was 25.8 percent in 2009, and those of Hispanic origin and Asian were 25.3 percent and 12.5 percent respectively, much higher than that of the non-Hispanic white at 9.4 percent, said the report, citing U.S. media figures.

The report also said that U.S. minority groups face obvious inequality in education, and the health care for African-American people is worrisome.

Racial discrimination is evident in the law enforcement and judicial systems, racial hate crimes are frequent, and immigrants' rights and interests are not guaranteed, said the report.

POVERTY PROPORTION HITS RECORD HIGH

Proportion of American people living in poverty has risen to a record high, according to the report.

A total of 44 million Americans found themselves in poverty in 2009, four million more than that of 2008, said the report.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the share of residents in poverty climbed to 14.3 percent in 2009, the highest level recorded since 1994.

People in hunger and homeless Americans increased sharply, and the number of American people without health insurance increased progressively every year, said the report.

Meanwhile, unemployment rate in the United States has been stubbornly high, according to report.

Media figures showed that from December 2007 to October 2010, a total of 7.5 million jobs were lost in the country.