December 10 = Human Rights Day

The theme for Human Rights Day 2010 – 10 December – is "Human Rights' Defenders who act to end Discrimination". Human rights' defenders acting against discrimination, often at great personal risk to both themselves and their families, are being recognized and acclaimed. At this occasion, the UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights will be awarded to Asma Jahangir (Pakistan) in recognition of her exceptional and courageous contribution to building a universal culture of human rights. The Award Ceremony will take place in Bilbao (Spain). More on the UNESCO celebration.......

When Eleanor Roosevelt presented the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the UN General Assembly, she proclaimed: "We stand today at the threshold of a great event, both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind." On December 10, 1948, the world moved to recognize and protect the equal and inalienable rights of all people, inspiring individuals around the globe to claim the rights that are our common heritage.
Hillary Rodham Clinton

Unfortunately the United States has failed to ratify some of the key conventions implementing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We have failed to ratify:

• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• The Convention on the Prohibition, Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (The Ottawa Treaty)
• Six out of the eight Conventions of the ILO which it describes as fundamental to the human rights of workers.
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (MWC)