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Human Rights in the United States of America

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."
Eleanor Roosevelt

After the end of World War II, the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States, who chaired the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations in its formative years, was instrumental in preparing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, to this day, within the United States of America,

there is still no "equal justice"
there is still no "equal opportunity"
there is still no "equal dignity without discrimination"
either at "school," "factory," "farm," or "office."

Furthermore, the United States continues to support: global warming, war crimes, land mines, police brutality and racial profiling, torture, the death penalty, and the execution of child offenders and the mentally retarded. Consequently, the United States of America was recently voted off the Human Rights Commission by other member countries.

The government of the United States does not uphold the laws, according to the United States Constitution. It is within this climate of oppression and tyranny of a police state that its own citizens resort to acts of terrorism, by individuals such as: Tim McVeigh and Ted Kaczynski, and by groups such as: eco-terrorists, in addition to the social unrest and animosity among the different racial groups.

Human Rights Abuses in the United States:

Amnesty International 2001 Report
A Life in the Balance - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Failing the Future - Death Penalty Developments
A Briefing for the UN Committee against Torture
A Call to Action by the UN Committee against Torture
Worlds Apart: Violations of the Rights of Foreign Nationals on Death Row
Memorandum to President Clinton - An Appeal for Human Rights Leadership

Tuan Tran