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 United Nations (UN) approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. On the committee that drafted this declaration was Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of the late President Roosevelt. The declaration was broken into two “covenants,” the first covenant discussed Civil and Political Rights, while the second covenant discussed Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The United States (US) would not ratify the first covenant until 1992. To date, the US has not ratified the second covenant. We must understand that in 1948, the US was just beginning to understand the difference between civil liberties and civil rights.

It is important to understand that civil liberties are based on the ideal of freedom. Meaning, the US Constitution granted individuals the freedom to do certain things without restraint from the government. However, this did not apply to private individuals or corporations. On the other hand, civil rights are based on the ideal of equality. The UN Declaration of Human Rights clear intent was to provide equality to all human beings. Therein lies the problem and conflict that the US faced in 1948. For Example, in 1948 as far as the government was concerned an African American has the freedom to publish his or her opinions. However, because of the lack of racial equality, a newspaper was not obliged by the Constitution to publish those opinions. It is my belief that a person who is denied equality is not likely to enjoy much freedom.

The UN declaration contains several principles, or articles, that did not, at the time, coincide with policies and practices in the US. One of the major problems with the declaration was that it conflicted with how white Americans viewed minorities. Article 1 of the UN Declaration states that everyone born is free and has equal dignity and rights. In the US, racial segregation was widespread. Therefore, minorities were not born with the same status as whites. Americans born white had more educational, financial, and social opportunities than African Americans and Hispanics. The American idea that being white was far better than being African American or some other minority violated the rights stated in the other articles of the UN Declaration.

Article 17 of the UN Declaration states that everyone has the right to own property. However, at the time it was difficult for African Americans to own property. White property owners would not set to minorities. White bankers were also not interested in giving loans to minorities. Article 20 states that everyone has the right to freedom of association. However, white Americans did not view African Americans as their equals. Therefore, it was considered taboo for whites to associate with African Americans in public. Article 23 states that everyone has the right to work and the free choice of employment. This was completely inaccurate at the time it was written in the US. Minorities, for the most part, were limited to labor that whites deemed acceptable based on their race. This was due largely to the educational inequities that existed between whites and minorities.

The differences between the UN Declaration and the policies and practices in the US did not only affect minorities but they also affected genders. Article 23(1) states everyone has the right to protection against unemployment. During World War II, many women were employed in positions previously held by men. Once the war ended, many women were forced to forfeit their positions back to the men. Article 23(2) stated everyone, without discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Women were simply not paid the same as men when performing the same work. White women and minority women were discriminated against due to their gender. Article 26(1) states everyone has the right to education. Due to segregation, it can be argued that education was not the same. In addition, higher education was not accessible to all based on merit. Minorities and white women were denied opportunities to education because of race and gender.

The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights had no enforcement mechanism. I believe that the US chose not to ratify this declaration because, as a nation, people were beginning to realize the severe racial inequality that existed. Unfortunately, it would take many years to reverse the discriminatory practices that existed in 1948. In 1954, two landmark cases were decided based on civil rights rather than the civil liberties of the Constitution. In Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the courts decided that segregation in public education was a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Similarly, in Bolling vs. Sharpe (1954), the courts decided that the federal government violated the due process clause of the 5th amendment to the US Constitution. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed preventing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, etc. On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was patterned after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, was signed into law. It is important to note that the US Civil Rights laws are not entitlements. The idea is to focus on an individual's abilities rather than their race, color, national origin, disability, etc. These are the reasons that today equal employment opportunities are the law.