This story is a clear answer to Human Rights Watch call for Obama to involve the United States once more in the struggle for human rights. This is HRW's call:
“For the first time in nearly a decade, the US has a chance to regain its global credibility by turning the page on the abusive policies of the Bush administration," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "And not a moment too late. Today, the most energetic diplomacy on human rights comes from such places as Algiers, Cairo, and Islamabad, with backing from Beijing and Moscow, but these ‘spoilers' are pushing in the wrong direction."
Human Rights Watch: The Disastrous Bush Years
I posted on this call and how I felt Obama had answered it in his inaugural address.
“Our founding fathers ... our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. “
Here is the text of the resolution, put forward by Brazil's delegate to the UN Human Rights Commission.
"The Commission on Human Rights,
"Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, "
"Recalling that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,"
"Reaffirming that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the principle of the inadmissibility of discrimination and proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein without distinction of any kind,
"Affirming that human rights education is a key to changing attitudes and behavior and to promoting respect for diversity in societies, [the Human Rights Commission],
"1. Expresses deep concern at the occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation;"
"2. Stresses that human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all human beings, that the universal nature of these rights and freedoms is beyond question and that the enjoyment of such rights and freedoms should not be hindered in any way on the grounds of sexual orientation;"
"3. Calls upon all States to promote and protect the human rights of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation;"
"4. Notes the attention given to human rights violations on the grounds of sexual orientation by the special procedures in their reports to the Commission on Human Rights, as well as by the treaty monitoring bodies, and encourages all special procedures of the Commission, within their mandates, to give due attention to the subject;"
"5. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to pay due attention to the violation of human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation;"
"6. Decides to continue consideration of the matter at its sixtieth session under the same agenda item."
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Cranky Cuss
john tapley
Catnlion
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Colony of Losers
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Comments
Now I want CEDAW, the UN convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
Profesor, thanks for the adjectives! I love them.
Dirigo, Glad you are here.
Stella, If I had some Jamesons tonight, I'd toast you back! Have to settle for herbal tea.
Thanks, MaryT. I was feeling tired after the term but this has really picked me up! I love to share that.
OEsheepdog! Isn't it grand. Like shaking off a bad dream.. Bush had shoes thrown at him in Canada today. He better get used to it. He may start going barefoot.
Monte
It's like once when we were canoeing with our wiener dog, and she spotted a bird on the beach. She didn't know that was our destination. To her, it was like a dream come true that the canoe turned and went in the direction she yearned to go.
Our canoe has turned and our ship is coming in.
Jesus, you people are easily impressed.
I now declare that every Tuesday the world shall live in peace and harmony, and from this point hence, birds will sing Bo Diddly songs from the trees, while virgins bathe in the purest springs with tiger lilies and daffodils. Rejoice.
It gives groups a basis for challenging human rights abuse in their own country. This is why Afghan women asked for the CEDAW to be signed. People actually use these, jim. They are not fluff. They are a basis for international law.
"We do now all declare, as member nations, that acne should be eliminated in our lifetime, and Rocky and Bullwinkle should have their own statute. "
Here according to the UN is the value in these conventions:
How Does International Law Protect Human Rights?
International human rights law lays down obligations which States are bound to respect. By becoming parties to international treaties, States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfill human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfill means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.
Through ratification of international human rights treaties, Governments undertake to put into place domestic measures and legislation compatible with their treaty obligations and duties. The domestic legal system, therefore, provides the principal legal protection of human rights guaranteed under international law. Where domestic legal proceedings fail to address human rights abuses, mechanisms and procedures for individual and group complaints are available at the regional and international levels to help ensure that international human rights standards are indeed respected, implemented, and enforced at the local level.
Which is not to say there shouldn't be international orgs. But they don't and shouldn't have the authority to impose laws on countries consisting of people who didn't vote for them. It would undermine democracy and automomy.
""We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries." - David Rockefeller, Baden-Baden, Germany 1991
The UN actually DID SOMETHING USEFUL?????
Great. Now let's get our country up off its collective ass and make sure this gets ratified and passed.
Hugely thumbed.
Yeah, I think it is well written. It is written by the Human Rights Comission and not the General Assembly but it is grand to see. The Holey See and the Islamic nations are aghast...
Shirel,
Yes, there seems to be more fresh air in the world, eh?
Hey, Spudman! See you got your PhD! Yeah, good to be back. I had been getting a bit of stage fright wondering how I would break back in but then this set me on fire. And I do love Rocky and Bullwinkle too. Fractured fairy tales was superb!
"He's like the gift that just keeps taking." You cracked me up! Yeah, he's going to be seeing a lot of shoes for the rest of his life. Maybe he'll have nightmares...I know he WAS one. If there is any justice...
Hey Bill! Good to see your mug again! Useful...? You mean UNICEF and the World Health Organization aren't useful? The UN is bigger than most think--grapples with world problems on the world stage. I would hate to see how the world would fare without it.
Sao Kay, Yeah...I have more hope for the world and us than I have ever had.
JIm, Gotta get some coffee here but will return to our discussion.
Criticism of the UN always revolves around their being a "world government" or, conversely, "not doing anything". It is actually the notion that the world might not be ungulfed in world war once more if everyone (every nation) had a voice. Obama's idea of talking to our enemies, basically, is a sound one.
It is not a world government because state soveriegnty is enshrined in the UN Charter and has held up for well over six decades. Talk and documents can have influence--you don't need a war club. International law gives rise to good domestic laws because it can be used to press for and design laws which support human rights worldwide.
The UN is a storehouse of best practices. The UN learned a great deal from its earlier peace keeping missions, and it is a pity that the bush administration did not access that wealth of knowledge or they would not have made such egregious mistakes in Iraq such as kicking eveyone out of the army so they only had insurgency as a career.
Leadership matters. Documents on human rights matter. Remember the Magna Carta? The Declaration of Independence? Those documents had profound effects worldwide.
People get together with likeminded people, write manifestos, read their speeches, hold hands while they light candles and burn incense, and nothing actually gets done, other than the illusion something is getting done, that they are doing something noble and heroic, as opposed to patting themselves on the back. The progressive equivalent of an awards cermony - Yay for us.
This is how Democratic administrations fail. They suround themselves with other political science majors, writers, artists and journalists propose bold new measures, allocate money, and forget that the only way things get accomplished is with poly wonks and people watching the details and execution with specific plans, as opposed to dropping food in the desert and hope warlords don't sell it for profit.
We've made the speeches, gotten the money, now what? Celebrate mission accomplished. No. That is when the work is supposed to start, not end.
The bailout is a typical example. We don't need speeches and declarations. We need someone watching these rabbit fuckers so they stop embezzling taxpayer money meant for legitimate purposes. Like I said, the devil is in the details. Well meaning speeches and documents accomplish next to nothing but make people feel noble that they have accomplished something.
I find that the things you fault Obama and our ilk for are things that were done by bush and would have been continued by mccain. Obama talks but he also does. In his inaugural speech, he clearly said, We do not torture. Those words reverberate down to the newest recruit and have a huge effect just like the words bush spoke that the Geneva Conventions were 'Quaint" and "old fashioned". This document has kept our US POWs safe through many wars and has spared our soldiers the trauma of having to act them out as in Abu Grahb.
Words make a difference, just like Heron said above, but they don't work fast enough for conservatives who like to do--do war, do pollute our world, do enrich the rich.
Americans have had it with "doers". We now have a man who thinks, speaks, and then acts or have you not noticed that everyday bush's mistakes are being rolled back? Way back.
I think we want the same things but I think we differ in the speed in which this is done. And we differ in what brings it about.
The doers have had sway the past eight years.
Now it is our turn. With what we have been left.