UNA Members are Championing Human Rights
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world.” — Eleanor Roosevelt, former UNA-USA Board Chairwoman and Human Rights Champion
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was adopted in 2007 by the UN Human Rights Council. These reports allow civil society to advocate and to take part in the implementation of human rights obligations. In May 2020, the United States will undergo a UPR of its domestic human rights record. This year, as we look to commemorate Human Rights Day on December 10th, we are proud of the work our UNA-USA campus and community chapters have done to promote universal human rights.
Since February 2019, we worked with our chapters to host local UPR consultations to engage the UN on strengthening human rights in the U.S. In total, our chapters held over 30 consultations across the country to discuss the consequences of a diverse range of human rights issues such as climate change, gun violence, criminal justice, human trafficking, and more.
In collaboration with stakeholders across the country, many of our chapters—including UNA-Saint Louis, UNA-Southern New York State Division, and UNA-University of Hawaii at Manoa—submitted reports to the UN Human Rights Council. These consultations engaged young people, working professionals, state senators, and partner organizations to highlight the intersectionality of issues such as climate change’s impact on human rights and the importance of the country’s responsibility to uphold basic liberties.
Too often we neglect to address violations made to basic human rights such as the right to life. This can be no better represented than through the gun violence crisis in America. Gun violence in the U.S. is a human rights issue because it represents the failure of a state to protect the unalienable rights to life and security. In response to the growing urgency for action, UNA-USA and March for Our Lives created a comprehensive, joint-stakeholder report to address the gun violence crisis in the U.S. This crisis manifests itself in the form of widespread mass shootings, urban violence, domestic violence, excessive force by police, and youth gun violence. The UPR report developed by UNA-USA and March for Our Lives is just one of the many examples of the important work from our advocates and stakeholders to create a better world.
While submitting these reports was an integral first step in educating the UN on human rights issues in the U.S., it is only the beginning. In order to ensure the strengthening of human rights in the country, and around the world, we need your voice. You have the power to advocate for real, necessary policy reform. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “ensuring universal human rights begins close to home.” By contacting your representatives and making policy makers aware of these issues, we will be one step closer to living in a world that respects and upholds the human rights of everyone, everywhere.
Want to get involved, but unsure of where to start? You can read the full reports here. Check out some of the key recommendations from the reports that our chapters put together:
UPR Report Highlights
- Re-enter the Paris Climate Agreement immediately.
- Consider climate change a national emergency by mobilizing all levels of government to build substantive partnerships with civil society, the private sector, and other actors.
- Take steps to eliminate single-use plastics over the next 10 years.
- Create a definition of a “climate refugee” and establish legal frameworks for supporting those displaced by climate change internationally and domestically.
UPR Report Highlights
- Increase prosecution of human trafficking cases by increasing federal penalties for traffickers.
- Adopt mandated paid maternity leave and universal childcare.
- Reverse policies inhibiting comprehensive and universal access to voluntary sexual and reproductive health services, especially in emergency situations.
- Ensure equal pay for equal work, institute a nationwide ban on salary history’s request by employers, and support partial wage reimbursement through the FAMILY Act in order to close the gender pay gap.
UPR Report Highlights
- Decriminalize drug addiction in order to treat it as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue.
- Take steps to eliminate the for-profit system of the American prison system.
- Provide adequate resources for skills training that is applicable to the job market and prepares inmates for jobs with higher wages.
- Implement nationwide standards raising employment standards and wages in prison facilities.
UPR Report Highlights
- Completely revoke the family separation policy and take all necessary measures to reunite children with their families.
- Provide immigrants, especially unaccompanied children, with legal services during immigration and asylum hearings.
- Seek alternatives to the present detention system, including emphasis on due process, justice and humane treatment.
- Improve conditions of confinement to meet basic human rights standards.
UPR Report Highlights
- Pass comprehensive national legislation to ensure that sexual orientation and gender identity are considered protected classes (for example, the Equality Act).
- Remove the ability for entities that are funded by taxpayer dollars to use erroneous claims of religious liberty to justify discrimination against the LGBTI community.
- Reverse immediately the ban on transgender individuals seeking employment in the U.S. military.
- Pass a nationwide ban on conversion therapy.
UPR Report Highlights
- Ban all forms of “assault-style” weapons and high-capacity magazines.
- Require ammunition dealers to be licensed and to maintain accurate sales records and require comprehensive background checks for private and gun show sales.
- Invest in mental and behavioral health services and programs for all communities that are struggling with the aftermath of gun violence.
- Establish a Racial Diversity Commission that investigates instances of racial profiling and raises cases to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
UPR Report Highlights
- Enhance measures to ensure a more accurate 2020 Census count in order to ensure accurate redistricting and avoid gerrymandering.
- Take steps to comprehensively address the issue of gerrymandering including establishing citizen led redistricting commissions in future elections.
- Pass a federal law for Fair Ballot Access which would ensure equal ballot qualification requirements for all parties and independent candidates as well as an open primary system allowing for inclusion of minority parties.
- Immediately end the disenfranchisement of currently or previously incarcerated people.
UPR Report Highlights
- Create a subcommittee on diversity in Congress to tackle issues of racial profiling within the criminal justice system.
- Thoroughly address and create solutions regarding the issue of racial profiling within the criminal justice system.
- Decrease arrest and prosecution rates for minor offenses, recalibrate the use of bail, and avoid fines and fees that trap people in jail.
- Implement suspension diversion programs to avert the school-to-prison pipeline for young people.
