The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the U.S.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was assembled after World War II had ended. Many individuals felt there was a need to address human rights issues since they were countlessly abused. The declaration was drafted by a committee formed by Eleanor Roosevelt. It outlined a long list of basic human rights that are bestowed upon everyone regardless of race, gender, religion, nationality, and political point of view. Unfortunately, the United States was not so quick in ratifying it. How could they ratify a document that preserves human rights to everyone when they did not do so in their own home?

There are several policies outlined in the declaration that conflicted with U.S. practices.

In the declaration, in article 7, it state that, “all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.” In the U.S., many nationalities and races are discriminated against such as minorities and immigrants. For example, a black person would never be able to testify against a white person.

In article 10, it states, “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge.” In any case, especially with minorities, only white people were served jury duty. In essence, if a black man was on trial he would most likely go to jail because he was not given a jury that was impartial. Also, the U.S. wouldn’t let minorities serve on juries so there would never be an impartial and fair jury.

In article 16, it states, “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.” This would very big problems in the U.S. since they did not allow races to intermarry. The issue comes in when in the case that if a black man and white woman were to marry, who would have more rights? They wouldn’t let the man have more rights because he’s black. Also, they wouldn’t let the woman have more rights because she’s a woman.

In article 23, it states, “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.” During the war, the U.S. needed a lot of people to contribute to the workforce. This resulted in many black people start working in the war industry. When time came that black workers and white workers were going to be working together, the white population were very angry. They were so angry that they resorted to violence which caused many blacks to not even consider going to work. This continued after the war and continued be a problem for a time.

In article 26, it states, “Everyone has the right to education. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” This one clearly creates some problems in the U.S. All schools were segregated. Black schools were not nearly as educationally adequate as white schools. Also, not many blacks had access to higher education programs such as colleges and universities.

The Declaration of Human Rights integrated many principles that are in the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, there were too many policies that the U.S. government was not ready to address just yet. It still needed to grow in its own way. Thankfully it did and we know live a better country than it was some 60 years ago.