The US uses ‘human rights’ primarily as a means to put pressure on allies. In each allied state there are institutions and individuals that are aligned with US interests. They use US material on ‘human rights’ to pressure their colleagues into taking actions the US wants.
Among US allies right now, it is US-funded think tanks, US-aligned media, US-aligned elected officials, and the military and intelligence services (who have a formal relationship with the US) using ’human rights’ discourse to coerce their colleagues into an anti-China position.
This is why ‘human rights’ enforcement is highly selective - i.e., only pursued where it aligns with US geopolitical interests and ignored or covered up otherwise. It’s primarily a way to put pressure on allies by publicly humiliating them. It wouldn’t work if it was consistent.
The ’human rights’ grift is also dependent on the existence of the US influence network in allied countries. It works by having US-aligned entities within allied countries use the material to coerce their colleagues. In countries with less US influence, there’s no traction.
You can track all of this quite easily just by looking at who’s involved. It’s the same politicians, journalists, academics, think tanks, etc, carrying water for the US in every case. They show little consistency other than taking Washington DC’s position on everything.
This isn’t to say everyone involved in ‘human rights’ discourse is insincere. Most of the people working in NGOs are sincere but at the mercy of funding (lots of money to study the wrongdoings of US enemies, none to study allies). But their work is used cynically.
That said, there comes a point when people should be held accountable for their naivety and the fact is that the US-centered ‘human rights’ industry serves a system of sanctions, coercion, and war worse than any of the supposed wrongdoing it ‘highlights’ and anyone can see this.
The system does little to effectively stop crimes against humanity (particularly because sanctions, intervention, etc, typically make these problems worse) but it does a lot to help the US stop allies from closing deals it doesn’t like for old fashioned geopolitical reasons.
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