On The Rights Path U.N. Declaration Has Been A Measuring Stick For 50 Years

Fifty years ago, the United Nations declared that all people are entitled to certain human rights.

Today, the United States still hasn’t lived up to that declaration, a speaker told about 65 people packed into Todd Lecture Hall at North Idaho College Thursday afternoon.

“There’s something intrinsic in human nature that entitles people to a certain level of respect,” said Bill Wassmuth, executive director of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment. “Human rights are universal.”

Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations marked it with a panel discussion at NIC. Across the nation, 30 cities held similar events to commemorate the declaration’s anniversary.

The document, among other things, proclaims that all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights, everyone has the right to equal pay for equal work, and all people have the right to education.

While the United States does well protecting political rights, such as those outlined in the Bill of Rights, “we as a country do not do as well on some of the other articles,” Wassmuth said. “Social injustices in America are human rights violations as well.”

He argued that human rights also include things like the freedom to have adequate shelter and food - an idea found in the declaration.

“We see violations of human rights as being political prisoners in China, not the person next door to us who does not have access to food and housing,” he said.

And the more a country’s politics swing to the right, Wassmuth insisted, the more human rights tend to suffer.

“The drift to the right is a serious attack on human rights and the rights of many in our country,” he said.

Panelist Jeanne Givens of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe agreed.

“I’ve been seeing the move to the right and the punishing of the poor,” she said. “I’ve become cynical and I’ve wondered: Does anybody care?”

She believes people do care, she said, and called on NIC students to support human rights. “Let everybody know where you stand on human rights,” she urged.

Other panelists made similar calls for action. Marshall Mend of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations reminded people that changing the world starts with each person changing him- or herself.

Wassmuth recommended that people evaluate politicians on their human rights records and that they examine political decisions partly on whether they comply with the Declaration of Human Rights.

And Tony Stewart, the moderator and a member of the Kootenai County Task Force, said people who want to support human rights should get involved with human rights organizations and talk about the issue with others.

Many of the audience members signed a letter to the White House supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler attended the discussion, just a day after Moscow residents protested in front of the white supremacist group’s Hayden Lake compound. One of the protesters, Lori Graves, had a cross burned in her front yard and a Molotov cocktail tossed at her front porch last week. She and others have said they suspect the Aryan Nations was responsible, because Graves had protested the Aryan parade in downtown Coeur d’Alene last summer.

When Butler attempted to ask a question Thursday, Stewart said the event was finished and there would be no more questions.

“I had already said we’re going to close the discussion,” Stewart explained later. “This is a day to celebrate, not a day to argue.”