File:EleanorRooseveltHumanRights.png: Difference between revisions

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights

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December 10, 2024

Historian Heather Cox Richardson revisits the origins of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-10-2024

New Englander Heather Richardson in her popular "Letters from an American" continues to reveal the truths of the United States background story. From the hopes and harsh realities of the founders, from the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution to Racism, Slavery and the Civil War, from the aftermath of states in conflict and national expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific, then beyond, the United States story looms large across the world.

The U.S. has become a 'Super Power', a military machine unrivaled in power and reach. The footprint of '800 overseas bases and a string of wars, and professions of peace making, position the U.S. to bring the nations of the world .... consequences. Heather Richardson tells how the decisions, the policies, the politics of the U.S. delivers these consequences. She does what used to be called "yeoman's work". Daily the Internet gets the details of a U.S. present and past, the news with context both good and bad.

Today, let's peer into some of how Heather enlightens a far extended audience of readers reached through her now famous Substack deliveries.

A tip of our GreenPolicy360 hat to Substack's "New Media Ecosystem" and to Heather for being a uniquely powerful fact-based, highly readable, and proundly informative source for all Americans and for readers internationally.

Here are highlights from Heather on December 10th, 2024 --

Today is Human Rights Day, celebrated internationally in honor of the day seventy-six years ago, December 10, 1948, when the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

In 1948 the world was still reeling from the death and destruction of World War II, including the horrors of the Holocaust. The Soviet Union was blockading Berlin, Italy and France were convulsed with communist-backed labor agitation, Greece was in the middle of a civil war, Arabs opposed the new state of Israel, communists and nationalists battled in China, and segregationists in the U.S. were forming their own political party to stop the government from protecting civil rights for Black Americans. In the midst of these dangerous trends, the member countries of the United Nations came together to adopt a landmark document: a common standard of fundamental rights for all human beings. ...

The United Nations itself was only three years old...

Part of the mission of the U.N. was “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.” In early 1946 the United Nations Economic and Social Council organized a nine-person commission on human rights to construct the mission of a permanent Human Rights Commission. Unlike other U.N. commissions, though, the selection of its members would be based not on their national affiliations but on their personal merit.

President Harry S. Truman had appointed Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and much beloved defender of human rights in the United States, as a delegate to the United Nations. In turn, U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie from Norway put her on the commission to develop a plan for the formal human rights commission. That first commission asked Roosevelt to take the chair.

“[T]he free peoples” and “all of the people liberated from slavery, put in you their confidence and their hope, so that everywhere the authority of these rights, respect of which is the essential condition of the dignity of the person, be respected,” a U.N. official told the commission at its first meeting on April 29, 1946. The U.N. official noted that the commission must figure out how to define the violation of human rights not only internationally but also within a nation, and must suggest how to protect “the rights of man all over the world.” If a procedure for identifying and addressing violations “had existed a few years ago,” he said, “the human community would have been able to stop those who started the war at the moment when they were still weak and the world catastrophe would have been avoided.” Drafted over the next two years, the final document began with a preamble explaining that a UDHR was necessary because “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,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”

The thirty articles that followed established that “[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” and regardless “of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs.”

Those rights included freedom from slavery, torture, degrading punishment, arbitrary arrest, exile, and “arbitrary interference with…privacy, family, home or correspondence, [and] attacks upon... honour and reputation.”

They included the right to equality before the law and to a fair trial, the right to travel both within a country and outside of it, the right to marry and to establish a family, and the right to own property.

They included the “right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,” “freedom of opinion and expression,” peaceful assembly, the right to participate in government either “directly or through freely chosen representatives,” the right of equal access to public service. After all, the UDHR noted, the authority of government rests on the will of the people, “expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage.”

They included the right to choose how and where to work, the right to equal pay for equal work, the right to unionize, and the right to fair pay that ensures “an existence worthy of human dignity.”

They included “the right to a standard of living adequate for…health and well-being…, 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 [one’s] control.”

They included the right to free education that develops students fully and strengthens “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Education “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.”

They included the right to participate in art and science.

They included the right to live in the sort of society in which the rights and freedoms outlined in the UDHR could be realized. And, the document concluded, “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.”

Although eight countries abstained from the UDHR—South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and six countries from the Soviet bloc—no country voted against it, making the vote unanimous. The declaration was not a treaty and was not legally binding; it was a declaration of principles.

Since then, though, the UDHR has become the foundation of international human rights law. More than eighty international treaties and declarations, along with regional human rights conventions, domestic human rights bills, and constitutional provisions, make up a legally binding system to protect human rights. All of the members of the United Nations have ratified at least one of the major international human rights treaties, and four out of five have ratified four or more.

Notes:

• https://www.nps.gov/elro/learn/historyculture/udhr.htm
• https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text
• https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/thematic-areas/international-law-courts-tribunals/human-rights-law/* https://www.un.org/en/about-us/udhr/foundation-of-international-human-rights-law
• https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
• https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/12/09/a-proclamation-on-human-rights-day-and-human-rights-week-2024/
• https://www.state.gov/2024-human-rights-defender-award-recipients-announced/
• https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-the-human-rights-defender-award-ceremony/

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A Personal Connection

Steven Schmidt, GreenPolicy360 Founder-Siterunner: Over the years I have often been asked about what went into the drafting of the U.S. Green Party's founding platform. As a principal drafter I most always speak of a "rights agenda", human rights, civil rights, women's rights, and much more.

History points to an 'Age of Enlightenment' that addressed a new era beyond centuries of 'Divine Rights of Kings'. Looking back we can see a struggle and progress throughout the world, for basic rights that led to inheritors of the human rights movement who envisioned change from 'the old ways'.

Clearly, the drafters of the new U.S. Declaration of Independence' nation were bold when they wrote of what they called "self-evident" truths, of equality, unalienable rights, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".

The Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were extensions of this belief, the democratic Republic, a new form of government and a hoped for light to the world, as the French-gift of the Statue of Liberty would announce to generations.

Eleanor Roosevelt is a star in this constellation. Today she might be called an "influencer" and for many years President Roosevelt's inspiring force who brought profound contributions into political reality, helping create and shape what became known as the "New Deal" that continues on to this day. Eleanor's personal story, up close and personal, touched the lives of many.

I was one of the ones who felt the influence, up close and personal.

Let me explain:

Eleanor 'mentored' a political student named Allard Lowenstein. They became close and Allard often talked of Eleanor. Al Lowenstein went on to a distinguished career that included famed words in an historic event that has come to be known as the "Ripple of Hope" speech. It was a speech given by Robert Kennedy in South Africa and it called for human rights, freedom and liberty.

• https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/06/30/197342656/looking-back-rfks-ripple-of-hope-speech-in-south-africa

Let's look more closely now, 50+ years later...

'Ripple of Hope' Speech

Ripples to Waves....

Eleanor's student, Allard Lowenstein, who later would invite GreenPolicy's editor to Washington DC to help with the start up of a peace movement in 1969, spoke to me of apartheid and "a speech" he help draft and shape. Let's look now back at how ideas, and values, can make a difference...

In a ride to a campaign event in the 1970s, Al told me about the speech given in South Africa by "Bobby". The original draft was not strong enough, Al said, and the Kennedy team brought him in to "revise and extend" the words and confront the apartheid, rights-denying government. He added to the draft of writers Adam Walinksky and Richard Goodwin. Allard added a vision of what could be, that each of us, joining together, can create waves for our rights. Al's speech writing and speech giving were also, as he explained, Rooseveltian, Eleanor Rooseveltian, who was a force in Lowenstein's life and work, and only passed away a few years before the speech.

They, Eleanor and Allard, and many, many more carried forward, ripples becoming waves. They, Franklin and Eleanor, and a living rights agenda are here and now and making a difference everyday.

As we at GreenPolicy360 often speak of ripples becoming waves, we remember those who've inspired and acted boldly, envisioning shared protection of rights, rewarding lives across all cultures, communities and nations. We are speaking for quality of life and hope. We are ripples becoming waves, we are carrying on a legacy.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt and the Human Rights Agenda

• https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/lesson-plans/notes-er-and-womens-movement.cfm

• https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/eleanor-roosevelt/

Women's Rights / Human Rights Activists

Eliminating All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women%27s_rights_activists

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December 10, 2023

GreenPolicy360 again reminds our many readers in communities across the world of the vision and work of Eleanor Roosevelt:

On the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

As recalled by Heather Cox Richardson

Story Posted December 10, 2023

Seventy-five years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)...

President Harry S. Truman had appointed Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and much beloved defender of human rights in the United States, as a delegate to the United Nations. In turn, U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie from Norway put her on the commission to develop a plan for the formal human rights commission. That first commission, in turn, asked Roosevelt to take the chair.

Drafted over the next two years, the final document began with a preamble explaining that a UDHR was necessary because “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,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”

The thirty articles that followed established that “[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” and regardless “of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs.”

Those rights included freedom from slavery, torture, degrading punishment, arbitrary arrest, exile, and “arbitrary interference with…privacy, family, home or correspondence, [and] attacks upon... honour and reputation.”

They included the right to equality before the law and to a fair trial, the right to travel both within a country and outside of it, the right to marry and to establish a family, the right to own property.

They included the “right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,” “freedom of opinion and expression,” peaceful assembly, the right to participate in government, either “directly or through freely chosen representatives,” the right of equal access to public service. After all, the UDHR noted, the authority of government rests on the will of the people, “expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage.”

They included the right to choose how and where to work, the right to equal pay for equal work, the right to unionize, and the right to fair pay that ensures “an existence worthy of human dignity.”

They included “the right to a standard of living adequate for…health and well-being…, 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 [one’s] control.”

They included the right to free education that develops students fully and strengthens “respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Education “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.”

They included the right to participate in art and science.

They included the right to live in the sort of society in which the rights and freedoms outlined in the UDHR could be realized. And, the document concluded, “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.” ...

Since then, though, the UDHR has become the foundation of international human rights law. More than eighty international treaties and declarations, along with regional human rights conventions, domestic human rights bills, and constitutional provisions, make up a legally binding system to protect human rights. All of the members of the United Nations have ratified at least one of the major international human rights treaties, and four out of five have ratified four or more...

Notes:

• https://www.nps.gov/elro/learn/historyculture/udhr.htm
• https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/thematic-areas/international-law-courts-tribunals/human-rights-law/
• https://www.un.org/en/about-us/udhr/foundation-of-international-human-rights-law
• https://www.state.gov/human-rights-day-3/
• https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

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