Every January the US State Department issues a widely praised report on human rights offences around the world but some countries on the receiving end complain that the catalogue ignores the US's own performance.
In its defence the Administration points out that the Department of Justice makes regular reports on the enforcement of civil rights inside the US. Three years ago a report was sent to the UN on how the US was observing international covenants on civil and political rights.
In the past year the US has been on the defensive about a decision which has angered human rights activists and disappointed even America's allies. This was the refusal to endorse the treaty setting up an International Criminal Court (ICC).
Last December the US had also dismayed the international community by its refusal to join 122 other states in signing the treaty to outlaw landmines. President Clinton personally wanted to support the ban but in the end bowed to the arguments of the Pentagon that landmines were necessary to protect the lives of American soldiers guarding the border with North Korea.
The US this year found itself just as isolated when it opposed the ICC treaty negotiated in Rome. The US joined China, Iraq, Libya, Israel, Qatar and Yemen in voting against compared with 120 countries which approved the treaty.
Many of these countries had watered down some aspects of the draft treaty to try and overcome the American opposition and now regret that they weakened its scope to no avail. The hard line taken by the US negotiators reflected the opposition by the Republican-controlled Congress to having members of US armed forces serving overseas subject to the jurisdiction of an international tribunal. It was argued that the US is especially vulnerable to any abuse of the ICC because of the large number of Americans serving around the globe.
The Human Rights Watch organisation in its recent report says that in spite of its long-stated commitment to upholding human rights at home and in its foreign policy, "the US government today poses a threat to the universality of human rights".
The report, citing the opposition to the landmines ban and the ICC, says that Washington's efforts to exempt the US from the international system for protecting human rights "will be mimicked by far less savoury regimes".
Other areas where the US is seen as liable to criticism its record at home include the application of the death penalty, treatment of asylum seekers and police brutality.
It is noted that the US was dismissive of the UN special rapporteur who examined the application of the death penalty which has been used against persons for crimes committed as juveniles. The two UN rapporteurs studying religious intolerance and women's rights in the US received "greater co-operation," Human Rights Watch says.
On the positive side, Congress this year passed a law which authorises the US to take sanctions against governments that commit or tolerate religious repression. Vice-president Gore angered the Malaysian regime when he spoke out against the treatment of its former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim.
Unlike its southern neighbour, Canada has been in the forefront of the efforts to ban landmines and set up an international court.
Canada took the initiative and helped fund the consolidation of reports across the full UN spectrum dealing with human rights. The result is a global report, For the Record - 1997, showing in detail how countries are implementing UN conventions. It is available on the Internet, on CD-Rom and in bound volumes.
The Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, has been an active campaigner for global human rights and has highlighted the plight of women and children in many countries.