On Human Dignity
By George Lippman
It’s May 23, and news just came to us at Meiklejohn about yesterday’s funeral of seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, shot to death by a police officer while peacefully sleeping in her Detroit home.
This tragedy has elements of farce. Aiyana lost her life in a police raid for a man who was never there, a raid accompanied by a cable camera crew from the Arts and Entertainment channel (A&E), videotaping for a reality show. A family attorney indicated that the police may have been excited and inspired to act with excessive force by the presence of television cameras.
This pointless loss of a young life exemplifies the violation of what the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, reflected in U.S. law by the international treaties, calls the Right to Dignity. So does the spill of immeasurable amounts of oil off the coast of Louisiana.
MCLI On the Move
To introduce myself: I stepped into the Executive Director position with Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute on March 15 following the retirement of the valiant and resolute Ann Fagan Ginger, who remains extremely active with MCLI. I want to offer my initial impressions of MCLI and the environment in which it works.
While MCLI undergoes its transition, the terrain of human rights law does as well. I have seen an explosion of interest in the application of international treaty law to human rights violations in the U.S.
— In late March the State Department held “listening sessions” in several cities across the country to help prepare its submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the U.S. human rights record. This Review is mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council for every U.N. member every four years. At the Berkeley and San Francisco sessions MCLI and many other non-profit organizations gave panel presentations and floor statements condemning treaty violations against Native sovereignty, police abuse, environmental racism and many other urgent issues. Representatives of State and other federal agencies listened respectfully and promised to consider the input in their report to the U.N.
— On April 12, the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission took public testimony for the City of Berkeley’s report to the United Nations on local compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). MCLI played a major role in persuading the Commission and the Berkeley City Council to make this historic report.
— As we discussed in the March issue of Human Rights Now!, California Assembly Member Willliam Monning has introduced ACR 129 to mandate California to file reports on state compliance with the ICCPR, the International Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ICAT), and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The Resolution also requires the state to publicize the text of the treaties and to prepare reporting templates to be used by state and local agencies. Many of you came to a reception with Mr. Monning hosted by MCLI on June 10 the California Nurses Association. It was a great success, thanks!
Making A Difference
I want to directly address an argument that I often hear: that international precedents and norms are irrelevant to the grassroots struggles in this country. I’m not referring to the narrow, nationalistic perspective that promotes an America detached from and unaccountable to the international community.
The issue from the progressive perspective is that the international community seems very far away. President Obama is continuing, even extending, Bush’s snubs to world opinion in arguing that those detained by the U.S. in foreign countries may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts, and has even authorized assassination, without any due process, of a U.S. citizen.
In this political environment, it is perhaps understandable that progressives question the value of human rights treaties, though they are the supreme law of the land according to the U.S. Constitution. But the experience from Berkeley shows that it’s what people do with these treaties that makes the difference. The staff and community people who helped draft the ICCPR report experienced empowerment and validation for their struggles for a more just society. The reporting process is a way to begin the conversation locally about what the values of our community ought to be, and what progress we are making with respect to that vision.
Beyond that, MCLI has found an increasing interest among lawyers and even judges to cite international law and precedent in human rights cases. See the review in this issue of the Graham v. Florida decision, in which Justice Kennedy gives weight to “global consensus” in banning juvenile life without parole in non-homicide cases.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins, “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace.” In the end, it is our advocacy and defense of our collective dignity and rights that will guarantee their recognition in practice by society. Please contact us at MCLI to get involved in our community campaign.