New Heights in Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy in the foreign policies of a country is nothing new but today is it reaching new heights?

Saudi Arabia is petitioning the United Nations about the violations afforded the human rights of the citizens of Syria.

It is referring to the action that the Syrian Government forces are purportedly taking in disrupting of Protestors on the streets of the cities.

Although what the Saudis are saying may be true, what right do they have to bring this up?

Wasn’t it in Bahrain where the Government troops also broke up protestors with the use of violence? Wasn’t it then, that the Saudi Government sent some of its own troops to augment the Bahraini’s?

There was no complaining at that time.

Human rights mean just that: the rights of a member of the human race. It does not mean the rights of some, depending on their nationality, religion, political status, color, age, beliefs or importance.

The hypocrisy is not just in the action that Saudi took in Bahrain and their statements on Syria, it is in their everyday actions. They themselves are guilty of civil rights violations to many in their own country, especially towards women and foreign workers. They, on a daily basis, arbitrarily imprison members of these groups without any trial let alone a fair trial. They rapidly and mercilessly quell any oppositional stands to their iron fist rule. Yet now, have the hypocrisy to point fingers at those that may not be so adept at rapidly quashing protests or hiding them from foreign eyes.

The United States, the self proclaimed “police” of the world, listen and promote the Saudi views, without even an utterance as to their own misdeeds.

Why is this?

Could it be that the US itself is so well versed in the use of hypocrisy itself?

As the “police” of the planet, they have sent their own soldiers into countries on the pretext of securing human rights for the beleaguered citizens. Yet, when it comes to those countries that are willing trading partners with the US, they are silent towards any rights that may be being violated.

The laws and rules in most countries are, by now, sufficiently in place to protect the human rights of the citizens. The problem is in the enforcing of these laws. Many of the countries have laws in place but only enforce them on certain groups of the populations. This means that although the human rights of perhaps half the population are possibly legally protected, the other half are defenseless to the whims and fancies of those in control.

In order for the United States to be taken seriously as the “policeman” of the world, it must first make a stand to show that, just like within a country, the same rules apply to all equally.

This would mean: Yes complain in the UN of Syria’s violations but also complain of the human rights violations being committed by Saudi Arabia and Israel, the biggest two violators of human rights in the region.

Any police force, in order to get the co-operation and respect of the community, must first and foremost display fair and unbiased enforcement of the rules. A corrupt police force results in a corrupt country. A biased and unfair international police force can only result in a corrupt world and as in all cases; the brunt of the blame would, correctly, fall at the feet of the enforcement agent.