Tribunal Condemns Globalism
UK - On December 10 - the 50th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights - the University of Warwick School of Law hosted the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Global Corporations and Human Rights. An international panel of judges compiled testimony and evidence establishing that the global marketplace has " confiscated common land and water, generated irreversible damage to the environment, aggravated the plight of women working in agriculture and systematically distorted channels of public communication."
Cities Back Economic Rights: US Flunks
US - Congressional hearings on "Economic Human Rights" in Washington, DC last September torpedoed the myth that the US economy is prospering. In 1997 nearly 36 million citizens were mired in poverty - 40 percent of them children - 30 million Americans went hungry, at least 5 million were homeless and 43 million lacked health insurance. According to Food First, which was instrumental in convening the hearings, "one in every eight Americans is denied the basic human right to health and well-being guaranteed under the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). While the US, nearly alone among industrialized nations, has not ratified the UN's International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, three California communities (San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley) have declared themselves "human rights cities" and pledged to oppose any laws or activities that run counter to the UDHR. [For information on how to make your town a "human rights city," contact Food First, 398 60th St., Oakland, CA 94618, (510) 654-4400.]
Human Wrongs in the USA
US - In recent years, Amnesty International has railed against human rights abuses in Sudan, Turkey, China, Colombia and Indonesia. In 1998, for the first time in its history, Amnesty International published a 153-page report exposing human rights abuses in the US. The US was scolded for mounting "wars" on crime, drugs and immigrants and eroding civil rights with policies like Three Strikes, Zero Tolerance and Detect, Detain, Deport. The US exports training, technology and weapons that are used to kill and torture citizens in other countries The US applies a double standard by criticizing abuses in Iraq and Cuba while remaining silent on abuses in Israel and Mexico. The only industrialized nation with the death penalty, the US is one of just six countries that executes people under the age of 18. The US is one of only 10 countries that failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The US and Somalia are the only countries that have failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Food Shortage
US - On World Food Day, October 15, a World Bank report warned that "food insecurity" affects 800 million people in developing countries owing to the scarcity of land and water, climate change and the extinction of plants and animals. The report called for recognizing food security as a basic human right.
For more info check out the Human Rights Internet and United Nations websites.
On the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights