Does half the population of the United States have to die before we get it?

Because of the enormous cost to human life (72 million dead) during WWII, the United Nations was created. Originally, the UN's primary focus was to promote peace and security - and has now expanded to include such missions as finance (World Bank) and trade (World Trade Organization), etc.

In regards to Human Rights, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It was not considered to be a binding treaty, however, in recent years some courts have given taken it as binding authority of international human rights norms. All member states of the UN agree that

"THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction."

If you read it, you'd be surprised - even as Americans - of the fundamental human rights that you are denied. Here is the link: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Following adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, two treaties were created that make up the "Bill of Human Rights." They are the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html) and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (http://www.hrweb.org/legal/escr.html). Both were adopted by the UN in 1966.

The United States didn't sign either treaty until 1977 when finally signed by President Carter. However, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights didn't have legal force until 1992 when finally ratified by Congress. Of course, we reserved the right - along with Human Rights Powerhouses China and Saudi Arabia - to execute our own citizens. Congress has never ratified the Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights. This is not surprising given our country's long history and present state of racism - and our cultural values that poor people somehow deserve to be poor because they haven't "pulled themselves up by their bootstraps like the rest of us."

Following passage of the two "pillars," other treaties were passed such as:

The Convention against Genocide (passed by UN and signed by US president 1948; finally ratified by congress in 1988 - yes, it's not a typo - it took our Congress 40 years to agree that Genocide was bad.)

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (passed 1998, signed 1995 by US president; never ratified by Congress. There are only two countries in the entire world who have not ratified this convention: The United States and Sudan. But, why care about those little pip-squeaks anyway? After all, they don't vote.)

The Convention Against Torture (passed 1984, signed 1988; ratified by Congress 1994 with the following reservation, "... nothing in this Convention requires or authorizes legislation, or other action, by the United States of America prohibited by the Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the United States." This basically means that if the United States determines that torture is permissible under the Constitution, the United States cannot be held accoutable under the terms of the treaty. Makes you feel really safe doesn't it that your own government is going to be the one to decide whether their torture of you is legal?)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (passed 1979, signed by US president 1980; never ratified by Congress. Why should they? After all, congress is primarily composed of rich white men, not to mention most Corporate officers and executives.)

I could go on and on and on....

By contrast, most European nations have signed every single one of these treaties and more. Rather than having the petulant "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" (stomp right foot here!) attitude of the United States, many European Countries have provisions in their constitutions making the laws of their lands subordinate to International Human Rights treaties. For example:

The Australian Constitution of 1928 states, "The generally recognized principles of international law are integral parts of the Federal Law."

The Phillippine Constitution of 1987 states, "The Phillippines...adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land."

The Russian Constitution of 1993 states, "The commonly recognized principles and norms of international law and the international treaties of the Russian Federation shall be a component part of its legal system."

The German Constitution of 1949 states, "The general rules of public international law constitutes an integral part of federal law. They take precedence over statutes and directly create rights and duties for the inhabitants of the federal territory."

The Italian Constitution of 1959 states, "Italy's legal system conforms with the generally recognized principles of international law." (Conformity between the two means that rules of municipal law which are contrary to customary international law "must be eliminated.")

The Greek Constitution of 1975 states, "The generally recognized rules of international law...shall be an integral part of domestic Greek law and shall prevail over any contrary provision of law."

The Slovenia Constitution of 1997 states, "Statutes and other legislative measures shall comply with generally accepted principles of international law..."

The Irish constitution, Japanese constitution and Hungarian constitutions all have similiar provisions.

One interesting bit of information is that not only has Europe adopted these treaties and standards as part of their national law, they created the European Court of Human Rights, which gives their citizens a right to redress wrongs by the government. Where would you go as an American if your human rights (but not civil rights) were violated? That's right - NOWHERE.

As I mentioned before, WWII claimed 75 million lives, of which "only" 406,000 were Americans. To put this in perspective for you, it would be as if, given current population numbers, one-half of the United States was wiped out in 4-6 years' time. Remember, this came within two decades after WWI - "The War to End All Wars - which had similiar devastating effects.

Would we then be more willing to cooperate on an international level? I hope that it doesn't have to come to that for us to see the light.