The U. N. Human Rights Commission
The United States has had problems with the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), from the beginning.
In early 1946, the United Nations established a Human Rights Commission, with Eleanor Roosevelt as one of its members. Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed to the United Nations by President Harry S. Truman after the death of her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
During the first half of the 20th century, the United States actively established a universal human rights system. The United States was one of the leaders that created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed in 1948.
The United States played a prominent role in the Nuremberg International Military Tribunals, which prosecuted individuals for crimes against humanity.
During the second half of the 20th century, the United States began experiencing difficulties with the UNHRC.
Although international human rights law provides a framework for guaranteeing people’s rights in all countries, human rights standards generally are not enforceable in the United States unless and until they are implemented through local, state, and/or federal law.
International treaties define rights very generally, and international courts and monitoring bodies cannot directly enforce their decisions in the United States or other Sovereign Nations.
Major International Treaties the U.S. Has NOT Ratified:
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights:(1966) Part of the International Bill of Human Rights is the only Covenant that requires governments to promote and protect such rights as health, education, social protection, and an adequate standard of living for all people. The ICESCR has been ratified by more than 150 countries. President Carter signed the Covenant in 1977, but the United States has yet to ratify it.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women:(1979) The most comprehensive and detailed international agreement that seeks women’s advancement, CEDAW has been ratified by 185 countries. Although President Carter signed the CEDAW in 1980, today, the United States is the only industrialized country that has not ratified it.
Convention on the Rights of the Child:(1989) Protecting children from physical and mental abuse and hazardous work and giving children the right to free primary education, the CRC has been ratified by 193 countries, making it one of the most widely adopted conventions. President Clinton signed the CRC in 1995, but the United States has yet to ratify it, one of only two countries in the world not to do so.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court:(1998) The ICC conducts trials of individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity when there is no other recourse for justice. 146 countries have signed the ICC, including the United States. In 2002, President George W. Bush stated that the United States did not intend to be bound by its signature to the Rome Statute and had no intention of ratifying it.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by a group of Terrorists associated with an international terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda.
U.S. government agencies have utilized an intelligence-gathering program involving the transfer of foreign nationals suspected of involvement in terrorism to detention and ‘Extraordinary Rendition’ interrogation methods in countries where U.S. Federal and international legal safeguards against torture do not apply.
An estimated 150 individuals have been, and some may still be held in areas outside the United States Jurisdiction.
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families:(1990) The Migrant Workers Convention protects migrant workers and their families from abuse and inhumane treatment in the countries where they work. No industrialized, migrant-receiving country, including the United States, has signed this treaty.
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:(2006) The CRPD is the first global Convention that specifically addresses the human rights of persons with disabilities. President Obama signed the treaty in 2009, but the United States has yet to ratify it.
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance:(2006) This Convention affirms that enforced disappearances constitute a crime against humanity when practiced in a widespread or systematic manner. The United States has not yet signed this treaty.
Conclusion: Considering that the United Nations Human Rights Commission resulted from WWII’s horrors, I would have hoped that we as a country would have learned something. Apparently, the United States has fallen somewhat short of its original lofty goals.
As a country, we need to reconsider our positions on Humanity. Partisan politics and secret policies kept from our citizens must be ended. The time to choose to change our positions is now! To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy: We should choose to change in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept.
Resourses: The Advocates for Human Rights, The American Civil Liberties Union and Wikipedia for historic references.
