All around the world, Monday December 10th was recognized as International Human Rights Day. In an Op/Ed in Springfield, Illinois' The State Journal-Register, the Rev. Dr. Sid Mohn, President of the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, asked readers to consider what needs to be done to secure our fundamental human rights here at home.
For many of us, the mention of human rights evokes powerful images, like the tragic loss of life in Sudan, or the brutal crackdown on Burmese monks. For others, it draws out deep cynicism about governments — our own and others.
But what exactly does it mean for us here in the United States to celebrate an International Human Rights Day? In an era marked by U.S. exceptionalism, it is certainly simpler for us to believe that human rights are about issues we hear about from far across the globe: torture, unfair elections, genocide or repressive regimes.
But this is only a part of the human rights story. As we watched the city of New Orleans disrobed by Katrina two years ago, revealing scars of deeply entrenched poverty and the fresh bruises of a blatantly ineffective government response, we knew that something had gone terribly wrong. In those moments, we collectively understood that human rights were not just about other countries, but very much about the issues in our own back yard.
Human rights are the very bedrock of our U.S. democracy. When our founders recognized that we all have rights that no government should take away, including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” they built a strong foundation for the United States. This was based in the belief that all persons should be treated with dignity and fairness, creating a better society for all.
But these human rights are not just about freedom from the impact of war, conflict or violence. They are as much about economic and social rights — the right to a livelihood, freedom from poverty, access to health care and having a roof over your head. Human rights indeed connect to the hardships of people on the west side of Chicago, in Galesburg or Rockford, working hard but struggling to make ends meet.
Today, we have a critical opportunity in the U.S. to rediscover and realize human rights in our own communities. But what exactly does adopting a more universal human rights perspective get us?
A refocus on human rights at home moves us away from the narrow agendas of special interest groups and lets us begin to believe again in a larger vision for the United States.
It helps us transcend the “either this or that” mentality of a fragmented political system, one that pits African-American issues against Latino concerns, job security against the environment, or something we hear a lot about today in Illinois — transit against health, education or human services.
Adopting this outlook about human rights would also challenge the longstanding, futile debate between conservatives and liberals about who is ultimately responsible for tackling society’s challenges and ills, the individual or government?
Bringing a human rights perspective to the U.S. bridges this false divide, recognizing we face a huge price of inaction as a nation and as individuals. It declares a basic standard of a responsible society, propelling us out of political silos and demanding that we work collectively and more proactively toward common goals. Ultimately, we must all be committed to achieving mutual rights through mutual responsibility.
Today, we live in a globalized world where conventional boundaries no longer stand. The business community has learned this, but the social and political sectors have not caught up. Conflict across the world results in real need at home; last year alone, nearly 1,500 refugees, often carrying with them traumas of war or disaster and serious needs, sought safety in Illinois communities. They need more than a coat to face the Midwestern winters or a chance at a job that does not come close to paying local rents. In this changed world, a new vision of human rights would recognize that we are deeply interconnected and we can no longer afford to address the world’s problems separately.
It also allows us to combat claims of U.S. exceptionalism, now abundant in an information saturation age where U.S. action and inaction — such as the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib — can be seen instantly and repeatedly across the world. Adopting a human rights view in our own country could push us from exceptionalism to exceptional, boosting our profile abroad and allowing us to be a credible mentor to other regions of the world.
The environmental movement has made dramatic progress by thinking globally and acting locally, turning the tables on old U.S. patterns of acting globally while overlooking our own back yard. We must rethink human rights as well. Improving the well-being of all means bringing human rights back home to the U.S. today.
The Rev. Dr. Sid Mohn is president of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights.
Source: Op/Ed from the The State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL), 12/10/07
