Today is Human Rights Day. The date is chosen because this is the anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the first documents to present the world with a comprehensive vision of human rights. In 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the declaration almost unanimously, and it was a landmark moment for human rights defenders all across the globe.
But even though it holds great significance, the declaration is not a binding legal document. It imposes no legal obligations that governments must adhere to, nor does it have any mechanisms for accountability. Instead, organizations like the ACLU that promote human rights turn to other documents, like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The United States ratified the ICCPR treaty in 1992 – twenty-six years after the treaty opened for signatures – and it legally binds the U.S. and other governments that have ratified it to uphold certain rights. The rights contained in the ICCPR roughly correspond to the first half of the Universal Declaration. They include many of the civil and political rights the ACLU fights for every day, including: the right to vote; the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; freedom of speech; and the right to be free from discrimination.
By ratifying the ICCPR treaty, the United States made a series of human rights promises, and too many have been left unfulfilled. We promised that those responsible for acts of torture and abuse would be held accountable, yet the architects of the Bush administration torture and CIA rendition programs have not. We promised that we would not use cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment as punishment, yet we hold prisoners – sometimes even children – in prolonged solitary confinement, failing to respect their dignity as human beings.
Today, we submitted to the U.N. a list of human rights issues that it should focus on when looking at America’s performance on these promises. This Human Rights Day, as every day, the ACLU is working to help make those promises reality. We’ll continue to promote human rights 365 days a year, but today is a special chance to pause and reflect on what it all means and why these rights are so important.
