On International Human Rights Day, the U.S. should live up to its commitments at home

Dec. 10 marks International Human Rights Day, and the United States has a long way to go to live up to its commitments, especially on social and economic rights.

Fifty-nine years ago, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, committing governments, including that of the United States, to guarantee a full range of human rights.

Article 25, for instance, says: All people have “the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being” of themselves and their families, “including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services … ”

Current conditions in the United States mock this high-minded rhetoric.

Nearly 35.5 million Americans, of which 12.5 million are children, went hungry last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Churches and charities are reporting that they are straining to serve rising requests for food from their pantries and soup kitchens, especially from working people. Nearly 48 percent of those requesting emergency food assistance in 2006 were members of families with children and 37 percent of adults requesting such assistance were employed.

Hunger in the United States is increasing for a variety of reasons, but poverty and growing inequality are at the root of all of them. In a nation of approximately 300 million people, the number living below the poverty line — $20,614 for a family of four — hit 37 million, or one out of eight Americans, in 2006. Worse still, the percentage of Americans living in severe poverty — earning less than half of the poverty threshold — grew by 20 percent between 2000 and 2004.

Every one of those numbers represents a personal tragedy and a political calamity. The right to food, clothing, shelter, education, health and employment is fundamental. Poverty, sickness and illiteracy undermine human dignity as effectively as military dictatorships.

It is going to be a grim holiday season for millions this year in this country. It’s time to remind policy makers that by the international standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our government is getting a failing grade.

Anuradha Mittal is the executive director of the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank working to increase public participation and promote fair debate on critical social, economic, environmental and foreign policy issues (www.oaklandinstitute.org). She can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.