Commentary: U.S. should improve its own human rights record before finger-pointing

The United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights, said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in an op-ed published in The New York Times in 2012.

Carter's warnings have been vindicated time and again over the years, during which U.S. media and politicians have constantly criticized other countries for alleged human rights violations, while turning a blind eye to problems at home.

The death of Michael Brown whose killing sparked the Ferguson unrest and a series of UN reports revealing myriad U.S. human rights violations are all stark reminders for the United States that there are a lot of human rights violations on its own soil.

Revelations that more than two people were killed by police a day on average in the United States during the first five months of this year is the most recent proof of how far the country's human rights violations have extended.

While a national debate is raging about the overuse of force by the police, The Washington Post is compiling a database of every fatal shooting by police in 2015.

In an investigation published on Saturday, The Washington Post revealed that at least 385 people were shot and killed by police across the United States during the first five months of 2015. That is more than twice the rate of fatal police shootings tallied by the federal government over the past decade, a count that officials concede is incomplete.

The findings of The Washington Post show that about half the victims were white, half minority. But the demographics shifted sharply among the unarmed victims, two-third of whom were black or Hispanic.

Overall, blacks were killed at three times the rate of whites or other minorities, said The Post.

According to the investigation, among the victims, 49 people had no weapon, while the guns wielded by 13 others turned out to be toys. In all, 16 percent were either carrying a toy or were unarmed.

In the United States, police are authorized to use deadly force when they fear for their lives, which is used by some as an excuse to abuse power and to kill.

However, the majority of law enforcement officers accused of brutality were not prosecuted in the end.

So far, just three of the 385 fatal shootings have resulted in an officer being charged with crime -- less than one percent, according to The Post's investigation.

The low rate mirrors the findings of a Post investigation in April which found that of thousands of fatal police shootings over the past decade, only 54 had produced criminal charges.

Such findings help people form a better understanding of the real human rights situation in the United States, where escalating police brutality poses a serious threat to its people's lives, liberty and personal security.

While the freedom and rights of its own citizens are being increasingly jeopardized, the United States needs to reflect on its own human rights situation before attacking others on this issue. Endi