Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Human Rights Indicator

The Human Rights Indicator views the state of human rights in the United States in broad areas: fundamental rights to the security of person and the US Bill of Rights and Amendments to the Constitution, including freedom of expression, religious freedom, right of assembly, and voting rights. After the terrorist attacks, The Patriot Act was signed giving law enforcement officials sweeping new powers. Many of these powers are opposed by human rights and civil liberties groups, along with libertarians, thus creating new coalitions across the US political spectrum. Many municipalities in the US joined civil liberties groups and conservatives in opposing Patriot Act provisions as unwarranted intrusions on states rights. Important updates on this Indicator are posted by our expert Alya Kayal, Esq., a leading human rights attorney with our partner, the Calvert Group, in their Calvert Social Research Department. Beyond our basic rights, the model embraces an evolving international view embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Future debates will likely include these broader rights to health, education, jobs and/or minimum incomes.

Human rights issues have been highlighted by the prisoner abuse horrors at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison, where violations of the Geneva Convention were rampant. Human rights are of great concern in Europe, Japan and Canada still and serve as a cornerstone of US foreign policy. Today a crucial issue is to what extent the sovereignty of a nation must be balanced with the human rights of its citizens - an issue being debated anew in the global war on terrorism. Many other countries already include in human rights economic, cultural, and social rights (to education, social participation, health care, leisure time, and to social security). Another evolution concerns the embracing of women and children in the definition of human rights - now widely recognized - if not fully achieved. The US still lags in ratifying the Comprehensive Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This indicator is crucial to quality of life in the United States and worldwide.