Reaction #8:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Read the excerpt from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.S. did not immediately ratify the Declaration. What policies and practices within the U.S. conflicted with many of the principles of the Declaration?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by a committee chaired by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948. This document intended to set forth a broad range of freedoms that were to be enjoyed by everyone everywhere. To make the document easier for member states to adopt, the United Nations decided to divide it into two sections- Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The United States did not ratify the document until 1992 and they only adopted the first covenant. The Soviet Union didn’t accept both parts of the document either. Even with all the issues concerning the Declaration and its ratification, it had no enforcement mechanisms so it could not even be implemented.

Many of the U.S.’s practices conflicted with the principles of the Declaration which is why it took so long to ratify it and why only part of it was ratified. Some of these issues included Article 2 where it was stated that “everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, 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”. Now the U.S. during this time prided itself in defending peoples of other countries who sought freedom from oppression and all of that, but the U.S. still had issues in its own country with oppressing people. During World War II the U.S. had sent Japanese persons to internment camps because they were possible spies or close to military operations or whatever other excuses they came up with. Minorities across the country faced discrimination everywhere and it was obvious that they did not share in equal freedoms and rights that Anglo Americans enjoyed.

Other conflicting principles in the Declaration included Articles 17, 19, 22, and 23. Article 17 stated that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property” which the Japanese recently had been due to their internment during WWII. Article 19 stated that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression” which had been severely limited during times of war and was almost exterminated completely during the anticommunist crusades and McCarthyism in the U.S. Article 22 said that “everyone… has the right to social security” which received mixed reactions since some Americans felt that it was a right to be enjoyed by those they saw fit. Article 23 mentioned that “everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work” which immediately makes me think of women in the workplace who constantly received less than their male counterparts for the same work. These were not the only reasons for disapproval of the Declaration but they show how the principles outlined in the document could make things tricky for a country that boasted freedom but struggled greatly with it. The U.S. has made great strides in living up to the standards set out in the Declaration but it’s still not perfect.