Specialist visits to talk human rights

‘ ‘ ‘ The United States needs to do more to promote the realization of human rights, a… ‘ ‘ ‘ The United States needs to do more to promote the realization of human rights, a specialist said yesterday. ‘ ‘ ‘ Lyn Beth Neylon, a specialist in law and women’s rights, gave the lecture titled, ‘What Will It Really Take to Realize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Human Rights Work on the Ground,’ to an audience of about 50 people who had packed into a classroom in Posvar Hall. ‘ ‘ ‘ In the lecture, Neylon emphasized the gap that still exists between the aspirations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 60 years ago by the United Nations, and the current state of affairs domestically and abroad.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘In the U.S. today, people are still faced with danger and neglect,’ said Neylon.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Neylon defined human rights as rights given to everyone by virtue of humanity. She said that no government, organization or person can take away these rights because of the inherent existence of them within each person.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ The UN decided to draw up and proclaim these rights as a reaction to the atrocities of the Holocaust, said Neylon. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘They needed to articulate the bottom line below which people might not go,’ she said.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Thus, the UN assembled a list of rights including those of life, liberty, security and equality. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Most people think of human rights as something somewhere else,’ said Neylon. ‘ ‘ ‘ However, she went onto explain that these rights exist in the U.S. and include civil rights, along with social and economic rights.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘People have a right to health care,’ said Neylon. ‘It’s part of the right to personal security.” ‘ ‘ ‘ In areas such as these, Neylon explained, the U.S. has not met the standards.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It’s not a shame,’ said Neylon. ‘It’s a human rights violation when someone is homeless.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ However, Neylon also spoke about the ways in which every person can work toward the realization of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She emphasized the need for each person to educate himself, involve himself in human rights work and also educate others. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It’s very important that you start seeing that there are human rights all around you,’ said Neylon.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ In order to pursue these rights, people may go through non-governmental organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, or in the failure of this, they can turn to international courts. According to Neylon, various courts exist through which individuals, groups and nations can bring to justice human rights abuses worldwide.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ These include the International Court of Justice, which does not allow individuals to make claims but only deals with nations. Therefore, an organization must go through its own nation to bring a claim against another nation.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Also, the UN has established International Criminal Tribunes for specific use in cases such as Rwanda, in which the human rights abuses have become especially evident. These, however, Neylon said, are expensive to maintain.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Finally, the International Criminal Court takes over when national judicial systems have failed. It exists to prosecute serious offenses against human rights, as well. The U.S. has chosen not to ratify the treaty that established this court.