24 August 2010
Here’s the contents page:
I. Introduction
I.1 A more perfect union, a more perfect world
I.2 The United States and the Universal Periodic Review: approach and methodology
II. The United States and human rights: normative and institutional background
II.1 Human Rights as the ends of government and the means of progress
II.2 Enduring commitments
III. A commitment to freedom, equality, and dignity
III.1 Freedom of expression, religion, association, and political participation
III.2 Fairness and equality
III.3 Dignity
IV. A commitment to foster a society where citizens are empowered to exercise their rights
IV.1 Education
IV.2 Health
IV.3 Housing
V. A commitment to values in our engagement across borders
V.1 Values and National Security
V.2 Values and Immigration
V.3 Values and Trafficking
VI. Conclusion
Annex 1: Human Rights Treaty Ratification and Reporting
Annex 2: Abbreviations
Annex 3: End Notes
I. Introduction
I.1 A more perfect union, a more perfect world
1. The story of the United States of America is one guided by universal values shared the
world over—that all are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights. In the United States, these values have grounded our institutions and motivated the determination of our citizens to come ever closer to realizing these ideals. Our Founders, who proclaimed their ambition “to form a more perfect Union,” bequeathed to us not a static condition but a perpetual aspiration and mission.
2. We present our first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report in the context of our
commitment to help to build a world in which universal rights give strength and direction to the nations, partnerships, and institutions that can usher us toward a more perfect world, a world characterized by, as President Obama has said, “a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual.”
The document continues here in PDF format.
H/T Power Line:
The Obama administration, in a reversal of policy, joined the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. This obligates the U.S. to submit an annual self-evaluation called the Universal Periodic Review. The State Department submitted the first such review on Friday, and the document became public today…
So, is it another Obama apology to the world? No, actually. In fact, some liberals likely would consider it a triumphalist account of American history. Moreover, near its beginning the report says:
Some may say that by participating we acknowledge commonality with states that systematically abuse human rights. We do not. There is no comparison between American democracy and repressive regimes.
What is annoying about the report, rather, is its consistent conflation of liberal social policy with human rights. In the left-wing lexicon, it seems that everything that sounds nice is a human right. Partly for this reason, the report reads like campaign literature for the Obama administration…
…In Iran they stone you, in Saudi Arabia they try to get a hospital to sever your spinal cord, and in Africa you get raped by U.N. peacekeepers. Here, the government encouraged banks to lend more money than borrowers were able to repay. But it’s all human rights for the Obama administration.
The problem with this partisan identification of human rights with favored political measures is that it demeans real human rights–the right to self-government, freedom of speech, security against arbitrary arrest and various kinds of abuse…
Updated: Obama Hauls Arizona Before the UN Human Rights Council :
Apparently Barack Obama is not content to make a federal case out of his immigration feud with Arizona; he just made it an international one.
The president’s first-ever report on U.S. human rights to the UN Human Rights Councilcontains a rich vein of offensive material. So far, one aspect has not been reported: our petty president used the situation to bash Arizona’s immigration law — and possibly transfer jurisdiction over the law from Arizona to the UN. Throughout the report, which sounds like an Obama campaign speech, the president discusses “the original flaw” of the U.S. Constitution, America’s tolerance for slavery, and his version of our long and despicable history of discriminating against and oppressing minorities, women, homosexuals, and the handicapped. After each complaint, he addresses how he is delivering us from ourselves, patting himself on the back for such initiatives as ending “torture,” promoting Affirmative Action, and passing health care legislation.
In his section on “Values and Immigration,” he praised the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to provide better medical care for detainees and increase “Alternatives To Detention” (e.g., letting them go). Then he turned to the one state that has had the temerity to stand in his way of fundamentally transforming the American electorate:
A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world. The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined…
