Today is the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Meteor Blades has a recommended diary on a piece Jimmy Carter has in the Washington Post, a letter to our president elect. What you will read below the fold is a reworking of what I intended as a comment to that diary, but realized as I wrote properly should be its own thread.
I make no claims that it is the most thoughtful diary I have ever done. The points I make are my immediate reaction to once again considering the importance of this - and other - conventions which this administration has been so willing to ignore, to flout, to violate. Our bad example undercuts the moral force such documents could have.
It is not just this administration. But perhaps at a time when we anticipate a new administration, we can, as does Carter, emphasis the value of such a document. I invite you to read my visceral reaction, and then perhaps to add some reactions of your own.
Allow me to quote the following:
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Whether or not actions reach the standards of torture, if they are merely degrading that are in violation of the convention. Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib surpass that standard. Unfortunately, so does the treatment received by many incarcerated in this country.
and this:
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
But it is not just our actions flowing from the so-called war on terror. Consider also this:
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
And note the emphasis on the rights to medical care, which we still do not fulfill.
And in this, please note what I bold:
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Our language and actions with respect to Islam seem to violated some of this, and in one government educational institution, the US Air Force Academy, we seem to have a real problem with understanding of religions other than evangelical Christianity. Our national approach to K-12 education has during this administration totlly forgetten about the full development of the human personality in our narrowing of the curriculum because of our overemphasis on test scores. It IS a human rights issue.
And of course we should always remember this:
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
American "exceptionalism" does not grant license to ignore universally accepted definitions of human rights.
I am well aware that the U. S. has chosen not to commit itself to this document, despite it being in lrge part the results of the efforts of a former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt (after whom the school in which I teach is named). On this anniversary, I hope we do take the time to consider how much better our behavior and the world as whole might be were we to take the lead in promoting the priciples of this document, and of the other conventions on rights issued under UN auspices, which may be examined here.
Peace