Human Rights in The United States: A Dictionary and Documents 2 Volumes

This two-volume set offers easy to grasp explanations of the basic concepts and laws in the field, with emphasis on human rights in the historical, political, and legal experience of the United States. This indispensable resource surveys the legal protection of human dignity in the United States, examines the sources of human rights norms, cites key legal cases, explains the role of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, and charts global, regional, and UN human rights measures.

• New second edition offers up-to-date data on Guantanamo Detention Centre, immigrant rights, the Torture Bill and many more current event topics
• Comprehensive Introduction places the history of human rights in the United States in an international context
• Details over 300 human rights terms, ranging from asylum and cultural relativism to hate crimes and torture, with a discussion of the significance of the term, examples, and citations of appropriate documents and court decisions
• Provides expanded coverage of over 60 Primary Documents, including conventions, treaties, and protocols related to the most up-to-date international action on ethnic cleansing, freedom of expression and religion, violence against women, and much more
• New Historical Timeline
• Nine Appendices, with additional sources of information
• A comprehensive Bibliography, to expand research on this interesting topic
• Comprehensive Index

Preface

Acknowledgments

How to Use This Book

Introduction: The Concept of Human Rights

Abbreviations

Dictionary

Accountability/Accountable

Advice and Consent of the U.S. Senate

Affirmative Action

Aid Conditionality

Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA)

American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR)

American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man (ADHR)

Amnesty

Anti-Semitism

Apartheid

Arbitrary Arrest/Detention

Arrest

Asylum

Atrocity

Basic Human Rights

Bearer

Bigot(ed)/Bigotry

Bill of Rights (U.S.)

Binding

Breach

Bricker Amendment

Broad-mindedness

Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy, and Labor

Capital Punishment

Charter

Civil Human Rights

Civil Liberties

Civil Rights

Civil Society

Civil War

Collateral Damage

Collective Human Rights

Collective Punishment

Command Responsibility

Commission on Human Rights

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Communication/Complaint Procedures

Complementarity of Judicial Systems

Compliance with Human Rights Norms

Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)

Conscientious Objection

Convention

Convention against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Corporal Punishment

Country Reports

Country-Specific Legislation

Covenant

Crimes against Humanity (Aggression)

Crimes against Peace

Cruel Treatment or Punishment

Cultural Human Rights

Cultural Relativism

Culture of Human Rights

Culture of Impunity

Culture of Peace

Customary International Law

Death Penalty

Declaration(s)

Declaration of Independence (U.S.)

Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Demonize/Demonization

Deportation

Derogation/Derogable Human Rights

Detention

Disappearance

Discrimination

Diversity

Domestic Remedy

Double Standard/Dual Standard

Due Process of Law

Duty

Economic Human Rights

Effective Domestic Remedy

Entry into Force (EIF)

Equality/Equality before the Law

Ethnic Cleansing

Ethnic Minority

Excessive Force

Executive Agreements (EA)

Executive Orders (EO)

Exhaustion of Domestic Remedies

Expropriation

Extradition

Extrajudicial Killing

Fact Finding

Fair Trial

Federal Clause

First Generation Human Rights

Forced Disappearance

Foreign Sovereignty Immunity Act

Forum of Shame

“Four Freedoms” Roosevelt Speech

Free and Fair Elections

Freedom

Freedom of Expression

Fundamental Rights/Freedoms

General Human Rights Legislation

Geneva Conventions of 1949 (GC)

Genocide/Genocide Convention

Grave Breaches

Gross Human Rights Violation

Habeas Corpus

Hard Core Human Rights

Harkin Amendment

Hate Crime

Hate Speech

Helsinki Final Act of 1975/Helsinki Accords

High Commissioner for Human Rights

Holocaust

Human Dignity

Humanitarian Intervention

Humanitarian Law

Human Rights

Human Rights Committee

Human Rights Reports

Human Rights Violation

Illegal Alien

Immunity

Implementing Legislation

Impunity

Inalienable Rights

Incommunicado Detention

Independent and Impartial Judiciary

Indigenous People(s) or Population(s)

Indiscriminate Attack/Force

Individual Complaint

Individual Criminal Responsibility

Individual Rights

Inherent Human Rights

Inhuman Treatment or Punishment

Inhumane Treatment

Inter-Governmental Organization

Internally Displaced Person

International Bill of Rights

International Committee of the Red Cross

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

International Criminal Court

International Criminal Law

International Financial Institution Legislation

International Human Rights Law

Interstate Complaint

Intolerance

Involuntary Servitude

Jackson-Vanik Amendment

Law of Armed Conflict

Liberty

Liberty and Security of Person

Lieber Code

Limitation

Link/Linkage

Massacre

Methods or Means of Combat

Minority/Minority Rights

Monitor

Most Favored Nation Trading Status

Multilateral Forum

National Self-Interest

Nationalism

Natural Law

Nondiscrimination

Non-Governmental Organization

Non-Interference with Internal Affairs

Non-Refoulement

Non-Self-Executing Treaty

Norm/Normative

Nuremberg Charter and Rules

Nuremberg Principles

On-Site Investigation/Fact-Finding

Oppression

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Organization of American States

Perpetrator

Persecution

Pluralism

Police Brutality

Police State

Political Asylum

Political Correctness/Politically Correct

Political Human Rights

Political Will

Preamble

Pretrial Detention

Prisoner of Conscience

Prisoner of War

Procedural Rights

Prolonged Arbitrary Detention

Proportionality

Protocol

Public International Law

Racial Discrimination

Racism/Racist

Ratification

Refugee

Regional Human Rights System or Regime

Reparations

Reports/Reporting

Reservations, Declarations, and Understandings (RDU’s)

Reverse Discrimination

Rule of Law

Sanctions

Second Generation Human Rights

Segregation

Self-Determination

Self-Executing Treaty

Sign/Signatory

Slavery

Social Human Rights

Social Justice

Soft Law

Sovereignty

Sovereignty Proviso

Special Rapporteur

Standard-Setting

State

State Party

State Responsibility for Injury to Aliens

Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities

Substantive Human Rights

Summary Execution

Third Generation Human Rights

Torture

Torture Victim Protection Act of 1992

Transparence

Treaty/International Instrument

Treaty Monitoring/Supervising Body

United Nations Charter

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Universal Jurisdiction

Universality

Unnecessary Suffering

War Crimes

War Crimes Act of 1996

Women’s Human Rights

Worldview

Xenophobia

Documents

A Word of Introduction

U.S. Historical Documents

1. Declaration of Independence (U.S.)

2. U.S. Constitution, Including the Bill of Rights

3. Executive Order 13107 on the Implementation of Human Rights Treaties and Declarations, Issued by President William J. Clinton on December 10, 1998

U.N. Related Documents

1. Charter of the United Nations

2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

4. U.S. Ratification of the ICCPR, with Reservations, Declarations, and Understandings

5. First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR

6. Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR

7. Initial Report of the United States of America to the U.N. Human Rights Committee under the ICCPR

8. Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 40 of the ICCPR: Comments (Concluding Observations) of the Human Rights Committee

9. General Comments [of the U.N. Human Rights Committee] under Article 40, para. 4 of the ICCPR, General Comment 15(27), 1986, on “The Position of Aliens under the Covenant,” 000

10. General Comments [of the U.N. Human Rights Committee] under Article 40, para. 4 of the ICCPR, General Comment 22, 1993, “Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion under Article 18 of the ICCPR,” 000

11. General Comments [of the U.N. Human Rights Committee] under Article 40, para 4 of the ICCPR, General Comment 23(27), 1994, “The Rights of Minorities,” 000

12. General Comments [of the U.N. Human Rights Committee] under Article 40, para. 4 of the ICCPR, General Comment 24(14), 1994, on “Issues relating to reservations made upon ratification or accession to the Covenant or the Optional Protocols thereto, or in relation to declarations under article 41 of the Covenant,” 000

13. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

14. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

15. U.S. Reservations, Declarations, and Understandings to the Genocide Convention

16. Convention against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

17. U.S. Reservations, Declarations, and Understandings to the Convention against Torture

18. U.S. Initial Report to the U.N. Committee against Torture

19. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

20. U.S. Reservations, Declarations, and Understandings to the Racial Discrimination Convention

21. Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities

22. Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

23. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

24. Convention on the Rights of the Child

25. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

26. Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

27. Declaration on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance Based on Religion or Belief

28. Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups, and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

29. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women

30. Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment

31. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners

32. Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty, Administration of Justice

33. Report submitted by Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, U.N. Commission on Human Rights, on His Mission to the U.S.A., 1997

34. Written Intervention by Human Rights Advocates, a Non-Governmental Organization, to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Especially Concerning the Death Penalty for Juvenile Offenders

35. ”Civil and Political Rights, Including: Freedom of Expression.” Report submitted by Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance and Discrimination, U.N. Commission on Human Rights, on his mission to the U.S.A., 1998

36. ”Violence Against Women” Report submitted by Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, U.N. Commission on Human Rights, on her mission to the U.S.A on the issue of violence against women in state and federal prisons, 1999

37. Report submitted to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights by Maurice Glele-Ahanhanzo, Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, on his fact-finding mission to the U.S.A., 1994

38. Response of the U.S. Government to Maurice Glele-Ahanhanzo, Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, on his factfinding mission to the U.S.A., 1994

39. Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Decisions, and Opinions, Adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

40. Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

41. U.N. General Assembly Resolution proclaiming the “U.N. Decade for Human Rights Education,” 000

42. International Labour Organization Documents

43. Convention No.182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, with U.S. Ratification (Reservations, Declarations, and Understandings)

44. Organization of American States Documents

45. American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man

46. American Convention on Human Rights

47. First Protocol to the ACHR (“Protocol of San Salvador”)

48. Second Protocol to the ACHR

49. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Documents

50. Helsinki Final Act of 1975

51. Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law Documents

52. 1907 Hague Convention IV, Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land

53. 1945 Nuremberg Principles

54. Basic Rules of International Humanitarian Law

55. Geneva Convention IV of 1949 Relative to Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts

56. 1977 Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949

57. 1977 Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949

58. Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

59. Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted July 1998

60. Convention on Prohibition or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects. (1980; includes protocol and as amended in 1996)

Appendixes

A. Charts of the International Protection of Human Rights

1. Inter-governmental organizations

a) Universal/Global Human Rights Systems

b) Regional Human Rights Systems

c) Other Systems

2. Non-Governmental Organizations/Civil Society

B. Charts on the U.N. System for the Protection of Human Rights

1. The U.N. System

2. The United Nations Human Rights Organizational Structure

3. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Procedures

4. Model ICCPR Complaint

C. Human Rights Report Card

D. List of Substantive Human Rights Found in the International Bill of Human Rights

E. How an International Human Rights Norm Becomes U.S. Law

F. Status of Human Rights in the United States

G. Selected U.S. Human Rights Legislation

H. Selected Case Decisions

I. Spectrum of Law Applicable in the United States

Bibliography

Index

About the Authors