What would happen if a democratic nation elected a government whose policies made it impossible for many people to enjoy fundamental human rights? One answer is: you might get a visit from a United Nations Human Rights overseer.
That is what is happening in our country right now. UN monitors are visiting Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and four states to take a close look at extremely high percentages of poverty, homelessness, incarceration and government neglect here in the United States.
When such extreme conditions exist in a country, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the United Nations in 1948, people cannot enjoy the benefits of a democracy or engage in the pursuit of happiness because they are unable to meet basic living standards. Here, for example, is Article 25 of the UDHR:
(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 Article 22:
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
And Article 23:
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
At the time of the UN declaration (which includes a total of 30 Articles), America was booming, enjoying the start of the post-war recovery. Eleanor Roosevelt worked tirelessly with UN representatives of other nations to create this document. As a country, we believed this to be a statement about ourselves as a nation, a document reflecting our own ideals and demonstrating our own commitments to our citizens. We were helping less developed governments understand the particulars of being a democracy. Now it looks like we need some of that help right here at home.
While the UN team examines some of the largest and most systemic problems that keep our citizens from enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, many other human rights issues have been tangled up in our political climate these past two years.
- Powerful people in positions of leadership insist that this is a Christian nation. This includes politicians making laws – concerning women’s health and reproduction, concerning bathroom rights and gender rights – that are based on their own Christian faith rather than representation of the people who elected them. It includes school officials who doctor science curriculum to reflect their Christian beliefs. With the most powerful people in our nation espousing a one-religion nation, ordinary citizens have taken it upon themselves to bully non-Christians with acts of vandalism and destruction of non-Christian church properties, and with verbal and physical attacks on Muslims in particular. This is in direct contradiction to our own constitution and Bill if Rights. Article 18 of the UDHR is also concerned with freedom of religious expression.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
- For the past two years, local authorities in nearly 20 states – that is, all across the country – have been crafting legislation to punish people for protesting. In some cases, new laws have been enacted saying that drivers who happen to hit protesters with their vehicles are protected from legal action. In others, legislators have banned the use of masks by protestors and threatened legal action if a highway is blocked by a protest. Protesters have been referred to as racketeers and paid performers. However, the right to peaceful assembly is covered in our own First Amendment, as well as in Article 20 of the UDHR:
First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
UNDHR: Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
- The federal government is working on the idea of privatizing the public school system. Instead of tackling huge discrepancies in learning and achievement between poor school districts and wealthy school districts, and taking action to eliminate barriers to learning, effort is going towards overturning the idea that everyone has a right to equal education under the law, substituting the practice of schools choosing students that fit their curriculum. The Equal Opportunities Education Act of 1974 prohibits any form of discrimination or segregation in public schools. That federal legislation will have to be taken into account if there is any concrete proposal to allow charter schools to dominate the educational system. We are a long way from the goals expressed in Article 26 of the UDHR, on education:
(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.
The bottom line is this: Everyone means everyone. We have gone too far in the direction of reserving the rights and privileges of life in a democracy for the wealthy and for those who call themselves Christians. Instead of living up to the ideals of our uniquely American democracy, we are spending our time trying to reason with people who scoff at equality and social justice for everyone. The visit from the UN monitors and the rising number of protests by hundreds of thousands of citizens are wake-up calls to get ourselves back on track. This one needs a hashtag #hurryup!
