December 10th is Human Rights Day!
Shame on me for not talking about this in class this week!
Oh well, my mind is getting older and more feeble with each passing day. So, at least here on my blog, let us honor and rededicate ourselves to the cause of human rights. December 10th commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948.
I encourage everyone to visit Amnesty International's website and write a letter or sign an online petition on behalf of human rights. Also, the more you know about rights, and the more you talk to others about them, the more awareness we create. So read something about rights, or is you are feeling kinda brain-dead, simply visit UNICEF's site that has posted it's top cartoons about the rights of children.
As we recognize this day, human rights issues are very much in the news. For one, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Wangari Maathai today. Her environmental and political actions are inspiring.
At the other end of the spectrum we have Zimbabwe's President Mugabe banning human rights groups from his country, and the continuing crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan.
Don't let the day go by without doing something!
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Even though sometimes it seems as if the world and the US are at odds concerning the definition and scope of human rights, this has not always been the case. Political rights, which are the heart of the Bill of Rights, are still cherished and promoted (at least ostensibly so) in the United States. However, the US has been less zealous in its support for social, cultural, and economic rights. The US has failed to sign the UN Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), but has signed the Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Recently, the US has been loathe to officially acknowledge the type of rights listed in the ICESCR, but Franklin Roosevelt did not hold the same point of view in 1944. As a matter of fact, Franklin's State of the Union speech to Congress (part of it available here http://www.worldpolicy.org/globalrights/econrights/fdr-econbill.html) was an inspiration to the development of Human Rights around the world.
Also, click here to see how the courts in England are dealing with laws restricting liberty: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1217-04.htm
Cato, Jr.
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