Trump isolated America from human rights standards

Under President D.Trump the U.S. is getting more opaque to the world. Let see how it isolates itself.

First, it was Trump’s ban on migrants from seven Muslim-majority nations and suspends admission for almost all refugees for a 120-day period which has caused harsh controversy in America. A panel of United Nations human rights experts said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s sweeping order restricting some travellers and refugees from entering the United States violates the country’s international human rights obligations.

The blunt assessment from the UN is the latest in a series of criticism it has volleyed at Trump’s ban. UN officials have spoken out against the ban in very sharp terms, worrying about its impact on refugees and expressing concerns it could help terrorist groups. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called the travel ban “mean-spirited” on Monday, while UN Secretary-General António Guterres released a statement a day later saying he was worried about decisions “undermining the integrity of the international refugee protection regime.” The UN has called the situation in Syria “the worst war, the worst humanitarian crisis, the worst displacement crisis, the worst refugee crisis in a generation,” and the experts Wednesday called Trump’s order “a significant setback for those who are obviously in need of international protection.”

The UN refugee agency, in a statement, said that Trump’s order could impact a far larger number of people, estimating that some 20,000 refugees might have been resettled in the United States during the 120-day window when most won’t be allowed to enter the country.

Secondly, President Trump just signed a Buy American, Hire American executive order last month making it more difficult for skilled workers from other countries to obtain temporary work visas in the US. The order also called for a review of trade deals to enforce “Buy American” clauses and mandated government agencies to use American-made steel and other goods in federally funded projects and contracts.

The measures, Trump said, were part of his “Buy American, Hire American” policy, which would “send a powerful signal to the world: We’re going to defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put America first.”

Trump’s program of economic nationalism, along with his savage witch-hunting of immigrant workers, is the domestic counterpart to the administration’s ever more violent military provocations around the world. With the support of the trade union bureaucracy, Trump is peddling the lie that foreign workers and “unfair trade deals” with China, Mexico and other countries, not the relentless pursuit of profit by the American ruling class, are the causes for chronic unemployment and stagnant wages.

The accusation that the temporary visa program is responsible for wholesale joblessness and falling wages is a fraud. The program, first enacted in 1990, provides three-year visas to only 85,000 skilled and college-educated workers per year, mostly to computer programmers and other high-tech employees, along with a smaller number of doctors, medical trainees, public school and college instructors, engineers, entertainers and lawyers. Silicon Valley employers like Google, Apple, Intel and outsourcing firms, which hold the visas and determine whether to renew them for another three years or sponsor a worker for a green card (permanent residence), certainly hold enormous leverage and can exploit these workers to the fullest. This is the result of the workings of the capitalist profit system, not the fault of the victims of this exploitation. In any case, Trump’s measures will serve only to intimidate and silence workers who fear their temporary visas will be cancelled.

As for Trump’s claim that “American workers have long called for reforms to end these visa abuses,” this refers only to the AFL-CIO and other trade unions, which have campaigned against H-1B visas as part of their general effort to divide the working class along national lines and block any common struggle against the global capitalist corporations.

Critics of Buy American, Hire American policies say they drive up prices and costs, but the administration officials maintain that these policies lead to higher wages, an increase in jobs, a robust tax base, increased economic growth and at the same time promote a manufacturing and industrial base.

Thirdly and recently, the Trump administration announced last month that it would not follow former president Barack Obama's policy of voluntarily disclosing the names of most visitors to the White House complex, citing “grave national security risks and privacy concerns.” The announcement — from an administration that has faced pointed questions about its commitment to transparency — marks a significant shift from the Obama White House, which released the names of nearly 6 million visitors, including scores of lobbyists.

Under the new policy, it will be up to the White House to decide whether to release the names of visitors coming to meet with the president, vice president and their senior staff, at least in the short term. Under a separate statute, much of that information can become public years after Trump leaves office.

This announcement was harshly criticized by government watchdog groups. “The only excuse for this policy is that the Trump administration has something to hide,” said David Donnelly, president and chief executive of Every Voice. “This kind of secrecy will allow big donors, lobbyists and special interests to have unknown levels of influence in the White House. It's the exact opposite of 'draining the swamp," Donnelly added, referring to Trump's pledge to usher in a more ethical and less corrupt era in Washington.

Human Rights Watch is listing President-elect Donald Trump as a threat to human rights, calling his campaign a “vivid illustration of the politics of intolerance. Donald Trump’s election as US president after a campaign fomenting hatred and intolerance, and the rising influence of political parties in Europe that reject universal rights, have put the postwar human rights system at risk,” the group said in a statement announcing a new report.

The 687-page World Report analyzes Trump’s campaign, pointing to his rhetoric as a cause for worry over human rights violations. “(Trump’s) campaign floated proposals that would harm millions of people, including plans to engage in massive deportations of immigrants, to curtail women’s rights and media freedoms, and to use torture,” the report says, quoting Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth.