2014年美國的人權紀錄（全文）
Full text of Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014
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| 三、關于經濟和社會權利 | III. On Economic and Social Rights |
| 盡管2014年美國經濟有所復蘇，但是失業和貧困依然威脅民眾的基本生存權，無家可歸者生存狀況持續惡化，不平等的分配結構導致收入和財產差距不斷拉大，醫療和教育更傾向于服務富裕階層，普通民眾的健康權和受教育權得不到充分保障。 | Despite the gradual recovery of the U.S. economy in 2014, unemployment and poverty still threatened the basic right of survival for the U.S. people. The living conditions for homeless people continuously deteriorated; the income and property gaps caused by distribution inequality continued to enlarge; ordinary people's rights of health and education could not be well ensured as relative resources were more frequently used to serve the rich. |
| 失業威脅民眾基本生存權。據美國勞工統計局數據，2015年1月美國的失業率為5.7%，約900萬人處于失業狀態，其中280萬人處于超過27周的長期失業狀態，青年失業率上升，占失業總人口的18.8%。(52)2014年美國的失業率雖然有所下降，但有700萬人只能找到兼職工作，比經濟衰退開始時高出50%，且30%左右一年中至少有3個月處于失業狀況。(53)失業迫使更多人不得不從事危險的崗位。美國勞工統計局的數據顯示，2013年美國有734名合同工在工作中喪生，比2011年增加了35%。自2004年起，保護美國勞工法案不斷提交國會，但一直未獲通過。(54) | Unemployment posed threat to people's basic right of survival. According to the figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate of the U.S. in January 2015 stood at 5.7 percent, with some nine million people jobless and 2.8 million of them having been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. The unemployment rate for teenagers (18.8 percent) increased in January (www.bls.gov). Although overall U.S. unemployment has fallen in 2014, seven million Americans could only find part-time positions. The number of people working part-time involuntarily is more than 50 percent higher than when the recession began, and almost 30 percent of involuntary part-time workers were unemployed for at least three months in a year (money.cnn.com, November 20, 2014). The unemployment risk forced more people to work on dangerous positions. The BLS data showed that 734 contract workers were killed on the job in the U.S. in 2013, increasing by 35 percent from the 2011 number. A bill known as the Protecting America's Workers Act has been proposed in every Congress since 2004 but has never made it out of committee (www.wsws.org, October 15, 2014). |
| 貧困率居高不下。研究顯示，2013年有超過14.5%的美國人（約4,500萬人）生活在貧困線以下，其中包括27.2%的非洲裔（約1,100萬人）。大約42.5%的非洲裔單身媽媽家庭和14.6%的老年人（約650萬人）生活在貧困中。(55)過高的貧困率導致了14%的美國人依賴食物救濟。(56)在紐約，靠食物救助站和流動廚房來解決吃飯問題的人數在5年間增長了20萬人，達到140萬人，這相當于每5個紐約人中就有1人吃飯要靠慈善施舍。(57)佛羅里達州北部的17個縣有32.2萬人仍然靠食品救助站和食品救助項目來養活自己及家庭，其中29%是18歲以下的兒童。(58)2014年10月20日，聯合國安全飲用水和衛生問題特別報告員和住房權問題特別報告員均對底特律市無力支付水費的家庭被大規模斷水表示關切，認為這構成對享有飲用水和其他國際基本人權的侵犯。 | Poverty rate remained high. Research showed that over 14.5 percent of Americans (about 45 million) lived below the poverty line in 2013, of whom 27.2 percent were African Americans (about 11 million). About 42.5 percent of the African American single-mother families and 14.6 percent of people aged 65 and above (about 6.5 million) lived in poverty (www.huffingtonpost.com, September 16, 2014; seniorjournal.com, October 17, 2014). The high poverty rate left one in seven Americans relying on food pantries and meal service programs to feed themselves and their families (www.usatoday.com, August 17, 2014). Nearly one in five New Yorkers, 1.4 million people, relied on food pantries and soup kitchens across the city to eat. That represented an increase of 200,000 people in five years (The New York Daily News, March 17, 2014). An estimated 322,300 people in 17 Northeast Florida Counties turned to food pantries and meal service programs to feed themselves and their families, and 29 percent were children under age 18 (www.feedingnefl.org, August 27, 2014). On October 20, 2014, the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation and Special Rapporteur on adequate housing of the United Nations voiced their concerns on the cutting-off of water supply for the families that could not pay the water bills in Detroit City, considering it a violation to the right of access to drinking water and other international basic human rights. |
| 無家可歸者基本生存狀況惡化。據統計，美國無家可歸的人數在2014年達到61萬多人，包括有大量的小孩、青年及退伍軍人。(59)據無家可歸者聯盟2014年11月發布的《紐約市無家可歸者基本情況》，2014年9月，紐約市無家可歸者的人數達到了58,056人，為20世紀30年代以來的最高點，其中包括24,631個兒童。(60)在華盛頓特區，大約有850個家庭在冬季仍然無家可歸，比2013年度增加了16%。(61)然而，發布法令禁止留宿車輛的城市，從2011年的37個上升為2014年的81個。發布法令禁止在公共空間席地而坐或躺臥的城市，也從2011年的70個上升為2014年的100個。(62)根據無家可歸者聯盟的報告，已經有21個城市通過法律，禁止或限制在公共場合給無家可歸者發放食物。(63)加利福尼亞州圣荷塞市號稱是世界上最富裕的地區之一，但該市及周邊的圣克拉拉縣有大約7,600多名無家可歸者。2014年12月初，圣荷塞市政府決定永久關閉無家可歸者在該市一條小河岸邊搭建的宿營地，在此居住的無家可歸者表示“不知道下一步該怎么辦”。(64) | The basic living conditions for homeless people deteriorated. Statistics showed that the homeless population reached to over 610,000 in the U.S. in 2014, including high levels of child, youth and veteran homelessness (america.aljazeera.com, May 28, 2014). In recent years, homelessness in New York City has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Basic facts about homelessness: New York City, released by the Coalition for the Homeless in November 2014 showed that in September 2014, there were an all-time record 58,056 homeless people, including 24,631 homeless children (www.coalitionforthethomeless.org). An estimated 850 families in Washington D.C. were projected to be homeless in the winter of 2014, a 16 percent increase from the year before (The Washington Post, October 14, 2014). However, the number of cities that prohibit sleeping in vehicles jumped from 37 in 2011 to 81 in 2014. The number that prohibit sitting or lying in public spaces increased from 70 in 2011 to 100 in 2014 (www.usatoday.com, July 16, 2014). In the U.S., 21 cities have managed to pass legislation banning or restricting organizations from sharing food with homeless populations in public places since January 2013 alone, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless (www.theguardian.com, November 30, 2014). The city of San Jose in California is known as one of the world's most opulent locations, however, San Jose and the surrounding Santa Clara County estimated almost 7,600 homeless people in 2013. In early December 2014, city officials planned to begin shutting down the encampments built by the homeless people along a creek bed. The majority of the people have said they don't know what they're going to do (The Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2014). |
| 收入不平等持續擴大。據報道，過去10年間，最富有的美國人的收入增長了86%，而其他所有人的收入只增長6%。(65)皮尤中心調查顯示，將自己定義為中產階級的人數比例從2008年的53%降到了2014年的44%。而那些將自己劃分到下層或中下層的人數從2008年的25%上升到了2014年的40%。(66)2013年貧富收入差距幾乎達到了過去80年中的最高值。(67)2014年有65%的美國民眾認為收入不平等在持續擴大。(68) | The income inequality has been continuously growing. Over the past decade, the incomes of the richest Americans have grown by 86 percent, while the incomes of everyone else have grown at just a little over six percent, according to media report (www.aljazeera.com, January 8, 2014). A Pew Research Center study showed that the percentage of people who classified themselves as middle class has shrunk to 44 percent in 2014 from 53 percent in 2008. At the same time, the study showed, those who classified themselves as lower- or lower-middle class has risen to 40 percent in 2014 vs. 25 percent in 2008 (www.usatoday.com, September 25, 2014). In 2013, the difference in income between the country's rich and poor was the highest in almost 80 years (www.washingtonpost.com, September 2, 2014). In 2014, 65 percent of all Americans believed inequality was growing (www.pewtrusts.org, June 11, 2014). |
| 醫療服務系統未能廣泛保障公民健康權。根據共同財富基金的調查，在11個同水平國家中，美國的醫療服務體系效率最低、最不公平、醫療產出最差，美國的死亡率和嬰兒死亡率均為最高，60歲人群的健康狀況最差。但與在上述其他國家生活的人相比，美國人民卻要負擔高出兩倍的醫療費用。(69) | The health care system was not able to widely protect citizens' right of health. According to Commonwealth Fund's latest findings, the U.S. health care system has the least efficient, least fair and worst health outcomes among the 11 peer nations surveyed. Americans have the highest death rate, the highest infant death rate and worst health at age 60. Yet Americans pay more than double what people in these other nations pay (edition.cnn.com, June 24, 2014). |
| 數據顯示，美國每年約有4,250萬成年人（約占總成年人口的18.2%）遭受抑郁癥、躁郁癥、精神分裂癥等精神疾病折磨。(70)370萬患有嚴重精神疾病、心理困擾、物質濫用障礙的美國人沒有醫療保險。(71)每13分鐘就有一人自殺，每年有近4萬人自殺，自殺成為15歲至34歲人群的第二大致死原因。(72)一方面是缺乏醫療保障；另一方面，自2010年以來，美國先后關閉了43個鄉村醫院。每個被關閉的醫院所服務的居民大約有1萬人，他們是社會最弱勢的群體。(73) | Statistics revealed that every year, about 42.5 million American adults (or 18.2 percent of the total adult population in the U.S.) suffer from some mental illness, enduring conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (www.newsweek.com, February 28, 2014). About 3.7 million Americans with serious mental illness, psychological distress or a substance abuse disorder are not covered by health insurance (www.pewtrusts.org, April 8, 2014). There's a suicide in the U.S. every 13 minutes. The nearly 40,000 American lives lost each year make suicide the second-leading killer for those aged 15-34 (The USA Today, October 10, 2014). Despite of the insufficient health care, since the beginning of 2010, 43 rural hospitals have closed, each serving about 10,000 people, who are the most vulnerable in the society (The USA Today, November 14, 2014). |
| 普通民眾的受教育權利得不到有效保障。新美國基金會的研究表明，2012年，69%的私立大學開出的學費金額，超過年收入在3萬美元以下家庭的收入的一半。由于高額的學費，入學機會更多地分配給了那些富裕的人。(74)據統計，在當代美國年輕人中，受教育程度低于其父母的達到29%。在早期教育方面，經合組織國家參加教育項目的3歲兒童數量平均達到70%，而美國只有38%。(75) | The right to education of average people was not effectively protected. A study by the New America Foundation found that 69 percent of private colleges asked students whose families earned $30,000 or less to turn over half that income for tuition in 2012. College access opportunities were limited only to those who are rich enough to afford it due to high tuition fees (www.businessweek.com, September 18, 2014). Statistics showed that currently 29 percent of the young Americans have less education than their parents. Across the O.E.C.D, an average of 70 percent of three-year-olds are enrolled in education programs, while in the U.S., it's 38 percent (cn.nytimes.com, October 29, 2014). |
注(52) 美國勞工局2015年1月就業狀況統計（http://www.bls.gov）。 注(53) 美國有線電視新聞網財經頻道網站（money.cnn.com），2014年11月20日。 注(54) 世界社會主義網站（www.wsws.org），2014年10月15日。 注(55) 《赫芬頓郵報》網站（www.huffingtonpost.com），2014年9月16日；老年人新聞和信息網（seniorjournal.com），2014年10月17日。 注(56) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年8月17日。 注(57) 《紐約每日新聞》，2014年3月17日。 注(58) Feeding Northeast Florida網站（www.feedingnefl.org），2014年8月27日。 注(59) 半島電視臺美國頻道網站（america.aljazeera.com），2014年5月28日。 注(60) 無家可歸者聯盟網站（www.coalitionforthehomeless.org）。 注(61) 《華盛頓郵報》，2014年10月14日。 注(62) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年7月16日。 注(63) 英國《衛報》網站（www.theguardian.com），2014年11月30日。 注(64) 《洛杉磯時報》，2014年12月4日。 注(65) 半島電視臺網站（www.aljazeera.com），2014年1月8日。 注(66) 《今日美國》網站（www.usatoday.com），2014年9月25日。 注(67) 《華盛頓郵報》網站（www.washingtonpost.com），2014年9月2日。 注(68) 皮尤中心網站（www.pewtrusts.org），2014年6月11日。 注(69) 美國有線電視新聞網網站（edition.cnn.com），2014年6月24日。 注(70) 《新聞周刊》網站（www.newsweek.com），2014年2月28日。 注(71) 皮尤中心網站（www.pewtrusts.org），2014年4月8日。 注(72) 《今日美國》，2014年10月10日。 注(73) 《今日美國》，2014年11月14日。 注(74) 美國《商務周刊》網站（www.businessweek.com），2014年9月18日。 注(75)《紐約時報》網站（cn.nytimes.com），2014年10月29日。 | |
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