The Chinese State Council, responding to the U.S. state Department's annual HR report released on 11 March, 2008 strongly criticized the Washington government for causing the world's largest "human rights tragedy" in Iraq and of hypocrisy for passing judgment on other nations.

The U.S. record on human rights is itself "tattered and shocking". The invasion of Iraq by U.S. and coalition forces has produced what is identified to be the largest humanitarian disaster in the modern world, the state council further reported.

China issued on Thursday the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007 in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 issued by the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday. The report says the United States attacks more than 190 countries and regions including China on their human rights issues, but mentions nothing about its own human rights problems.

By publishing the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007, the report says it aims to "help the people have a better understanding of the real situation in the United States and as a reminder for the United States to reflect upon its own issues."

The report reviewed the human rights record of the United States in 2007 from seven perspectives: on life and personal security, on human rights violations by law enforcement and judicial departments, on civil and political rights, on economic, social and cultural rights, on racial discrimination, on rights of women and children and on the United States' violation of human rights in other countries.

The report says the increase of violent crimes in the United States poses a serious threat to its people's lives, liberty and personal security.

The State Department's report is a clear exhibit of the "U.S. double standards" and is clearly engineered for the consumption of few interested parties. The state council further stated in its report that, America itself has legalized torture and capital punishment to minors. It has the world's largest prison population and an increased domestic crime rate by 1.9% from 2005 - 2006. Over an average of 30,000 people die from gunshot wounds each year and this has increased in a staggering percentage of 13% since 2002, Beijing's said citing FBI crime statistics released.

It also referred to the April 2007 shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University, which killed 33 and injuring 30 others.

Widespread HR violations, brutal police attacks on unarmed people, failure of law enforcement and breaches of civil rights are on the rise in America, the report further stated.

"We resolutely oppose the U.S. report pointing fingers at other countries. It never reflects its own HR status, so it (America) cannot justify itself, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang.

China further lashed with strong criticism stating that workers rights to unionize have been restricted in U.S. with union membership dropping in 2006. This comment was made with reference to a Human Right Watch report stating that Wal-Mart stores fought unionization drives by eavesdropping on employee conversations, using camera surveillance and firing workers who favoured unions.

"It is high time for the United States government to face its own human rights problems with courage ... and give up the unwise practices of applying double standards on HR issues and using it to suppress other countries", Beijing further stated in its report.

Meanwhile, America's foremost rights organization 'Human Rights First', drawing its views into the U.S. State Department's annual report said that, the U.S. own policies on torture, rendition and detention underscore an honest assessment of HR violation in the country(U.S.) itself.

It further noted that "U.S. overall human rights record remains poor."