In honor of the United Nations Human Rights Day December 10, 2002, The 8th Day Center for Justice would like to celebrate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly.  These human rights give affirmation to our God given rights as people created by God with human dignity.  These thirty articles identify rights, which to all human beings are entitled.

Surprisingly, in an American society where we profess Liberty and Justice for all there are some grave discrepancies between our Universal Human Rights and what American citizens experience in our daily lives.  We would like to identify three areas where such discrepancies take place; they are education, women’s rights and the criminal justice system.

1. EDUCATION
Currently in our American society today our educational system is constantly under fire. The United States claims to have equal educational opportunities for its children however, nothing could be further from the truth.  “Schools in poorer neighborhoods often have fewer qualified teachers, larger class sizes, and inferior supplies and facilities, when compared to schools in wealthier neighborhoods in the same school district.” Therefore our children are not receiving quality education and are in fact being undereducated.

This inequality has persisted since the times of ‘Separate but Equal’ in the 1950’s.  Our laws have changed but the discrimination and neglect still persist. Therefore one could ask the question, are American citizens being deprived their Universal Human Rights? The answer is yes; many Americans are being deprived of their right to education article 26 and freedom for discrimination article 2. Something must be done to rectify this matter.

2. WOMEN'S RIGHTS
CEDAW is the U.N. Convention on the Elimination Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.  It affirms basic human rights for women and girls and is a tool to provide education, health care, and freedom from violence for women worldwide.  The
treaty sets benchmarks within traditional enforcement mechanisms that respect sovereignty and democracy. In 1980 President Carter signed the treaty and sent it to the Senate for approval. It has been ‘lost’ in committee all this time until July 30, 2002 when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to approve it by 12-7 and send it on to the Senate for a final vote. CEDAW needs a two-thirds (67 senators) vote of approval. Write/call/ email your senator now and ask for their vote of approval for CEDAW. See www.womenstreaty.org for more info and updates. Work on this begins anew in January, 2003.

3. CRIMINAL JUSTICE
There are aspects of our nations criminal justice system that continues to violate sections of the human rights declaration. The ongoing use of the death penalty in our country is an immediate violation to Article 3, the right to life, and Article 5, the right not to be subject to torture or cruelty. The right to life cannot be denied by the state. The death penalty does not constitute justice in any degree; rather it is part of the vicious cycle of violence that the state endorses. It has been shown that the death penalty does not deter criminal offense.  The scientific research and evidence show that the crime rate in other countries progressively goes down after the death penalty is removed. There is no arguments that exist to defend the cruel and torturous nature of the death penalty. Therefore the state is in violation and will remain in violation of those two articles until the death penalty is abolished.

Furthermore the systemic application of the death penalty has also violated Article 2 and Article 7 of the human rights declaration. Article 2 cites that the rights pronounced in this declaration are to be protected without discrimination. Article 7 further reiterates that the laws that protect and punish for the safety of the community are not to be applied in a discriminatory fashion. Our overall criminal justice system has been in the spotlight for its discriminatory application of punitive measures. Race, color, social origin, property, and even birth have all acted as factors that are taken into consideration when people are convicted for a crime. The application of the death penalty within a discriminating criminal justice system is a horrific violation of these two articles.

ACTION
call or email or fax your president, senator and congress representatives and ask them to address these issues and to eliminate these human rights violations (see sample conversational piece). You can talk to them on all three issues or whichever one you prefer.

President Bush
The White House
Washington DC 20500
Phone: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461

Representative__________
US House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515

Senator__________
US Senate
Washington DC 20501

For detailed contact information go to http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ place your zip code and you will receive your four political representatives including you President, Senators and Congressperson. If you are e-mailing them this information then we recommend you do the hand delivery option that will be open to you after you compose your message. Otherwise it is highly recommended that you fax them the information. Your congressional representative’s fax number is listen in this weblink.

Otherwise you can call the congressional switchboard to connect you with your congressional representative at (202) 224 – 3121.

SAMPLE CONVERSATIONAL PIECE
In honor of Human Right Day I would like you to address some issues of discrimination that currently violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In honor of Article 2 and Article 26 I ask you to grant greater financial assistance for supplies, teachers and better facilities  to schools in poorer neighborhoods so that the children in these neighborhoods can have the same education that other children are privy to.

In honor of promoting women’s rights which is granted within Article 2 I ask you to lobby and vote our country to sign and ratify the U.N. Convention on the Elimination Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, also known as CEDAW.

In honor of Article 2, 3, 5, and 7 I ask you to lobby for the termination of the death penalty and for the reform of the criminal justice system with the goal of ending its discriminatory practices.