The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) was adopted by the UN in 1948 as a response to the
Nazi holocaust and to set a standard by which the human
rights activities of all nations, rich and poor alike, are
to be measured.
(Selected excerpts and
analysis)
Click
here for UN link to full text
Preamble: Whereas recognition of
the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights
of all members of the human family is the foundation of the
freedom, justice and peace in the world.
Whereas it is essentialthat human
rights should be protected by the rule of law.
Whereas the peoples of the United
Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the
human person and in the equal rights of men and women and
have determined to promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom.
Whereas Member States have pledged
themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United
Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and
observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Now, therefore The General
Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human
Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples
and all nations, to the end that every individual and every
organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in
mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote
respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive
measures, national and international, to secure their
universal and effective recognition and
observance.
American civil rights as put forth by the
United States Constitution & the Bill of Rights
The
Promise of the American Republic
 "We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever
any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to
them shall deem most likely to effect their Safety and
Happiness."
- American Declaration of
Independence, 1776
|
 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article 5
"No one shall be subjected to
torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment."
The
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution also
protects prisoners against cruel
and unusual punishment,
specifically banning excessive bail and
fines.
The Drug War has created Draconian prison
sentences and asset
forfeitures that are
disproportionate to the offense. Federal mandatory minimum
sentences put first-time, nonviolent, low-level drug
offenders in prison for five, 10, 20 years or even life,
without parole - often for longer terms than violent
criminals convicted of murder, rape or robbery, felons who
are eligible for parole. Urine testing without probable
cause is an insidious example of degrading treatment that
has become a familiar routine in American schools and the
corporate work place.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article 10
"Everyone is entitled in full
equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and
impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and
obligations and of any criminal charge against
him."
The
Constitution guarantees a jury trial, both in criminal cases
(Sixth Amendment) and in common law civil suits involving a
value over $20 (Seventh Amendment).
Sentencing guidelines and mandatory
minimum penalty laws tie judges hands when it comes to
dispensing justice. Physical evidence is replaced with
exaggerated estimates. In a group offense, each person is
liable for the whole amount instead of their actual level of
involvement. Back room plea bargaining has replaced public
hearings. Furthermore, under federal civil
asset forfeiture law, a person's
entire life savings can be seized, without a prior hearing,
and without even being charged with a crime. If the property
has a value of less than $500,000 it can be forfeited
administratively, without any judicial proceedings unless
the owner posts a cost bond. Even if he pays the cost bond,
the owner can still be deprived of the right to a jury trial
through summary judgment, if the judge is not satisfied with
the amount of proof he submits on paper. Since most judges
have come up the ranks as hard-nosed prosecutors, they are
often biased against the accused.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article
11.1
"Everyone charged with a penal
offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved
guilty according to the law in a public trial at which he
has had all the guarantees necessary for his
defense."
The
Fifth Amendment further adds the right to a speedy trial and
right to legal counsel and forbids the use of secret
witnesses by requiring their testimony in
court.
In Drug War criminal cases, anonymous
informants can reduce or work off charges and even receive
payment and commissions to provide "evidence" for search
warrants, and lawyers refer to a de facto "drug war
exception" to the Bill of Rights. Police use entrapment to
lure people to break the law under a system that creates a
conflict of interest due to the seizure
of property for law enforcement use. These problems are
compounded by prosecutorial misconduct, vague and overly
broad conspiracy charges, changes of venue, biased judicial
instructions, limits placed on defense evidence and
motivation, etc.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article 12
"No one shall be subjected to
arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or
correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and
reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the
law against such interference or
attacks."
The
Fourth Amendment protects the people from "unreasonable
searches and seizures" by requiring that "no Warrants shall
issue, but upon probable cause supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be
seized."
In recent years, people in the U.S. have
suffered increasing intrusions on their privacy, including
phone taps, invasive urine testing, infra-red scanning of
homes, garbage and mail searches, computer searches of bank
records and utility bills. Employees are routinely subjected
to random urine testing, with neither probable cause nor
warrant, as a job requirement. Police sweep neighborhoods
and block public roadways to search people, sometimes with
dogs. If your appearance fits one of the stereotypical
"profiles," you may be singled out for special harassment.
Having $100 cash on your person is all it takes for police
to seize your money as suspected drug income, even when you
can prove otherwise. And when warrants are still issued,
they are often based on hearsay evidence, high-tech
surveillance and monitoring systems even the amount of
electricity a home or business uses in a month or gauge the
amount of heat it gives off.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article
16.3
"The family is the natural and
fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to
protection by society and the state."
The
Fourth Amendment lists "The right of the people to be secure
in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects".
What happens to the children when
narcotics police take the family car and home, and send
Mommy and Daddy to prison for decades at a time under
mandatory minimum sentences? How does it affect children to
see their parents tied up face down on the floor while armed
men in dark suits tear the house apart? How can a person
support their family from prison, financially or
emotionally? How can an inner city community survive with a
quarter of its adult male population stigmatized by a
criminal record? Indeed, the family is a primary target of
the Drug War.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article
17.2
"No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his property."
The
US Constitution Fifth Amendment also promises that
no American shall be "deprived of life, liberty, or
property,
without due process of law".
Under US civil
asset forfeiture laws, police
agencies and informants get to keep the proceeds of their
confiscations. Inherent conflicts of interest arise from
forfeiture laws. Property of innocent parties has often been
seized by police agencies without even a conviction.
Forfeiture victims do not have to be charged with a crime to
lose their homes, cars or life savings. Often they are
deprived of their right to trial. Although the US Supreme
Court held in 1993 that disproportionate forfeitures are
unconstitutional, the abuses continue. Arbitrary selection
of suspects based on appearance (racially- and
culturally-discriminatory drug courier profiles, such as
ethnicity, hair length, political bumper stickers, etc.).
Buying your garden supplies from a store under surveillance
by police agencies can lead to a search of your home. In
addition, the lines separating legal from illegal drugs is
not based on scientific criterion (like demonstrable health
effects) or objective standards (such as impairment or
likelihood of inducing violent behavior), but rather on the
arbitrary moralistic and political attitudes of elected
officials and appointed bureaucrats. Anyone who enjoys the
wrong kind of flowers or intoxicants may well find their
property seized by the government, along with their children
and personal liberty.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article 18
"Everyone has the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion: This right
includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and
freedom, either alone or in community with others and in
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and
observance."
The
US Constitution First Amendment begins the Bill of Rights:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof".
The government has prosecuted every
effort to formulate and establish new religions that involve
the use of mind expanding drugs. When Drug War zeal even
infringed on the Native American Church by forbidding the
use of peyote in its ceremonies, Congress created a special,
narrow exemption for its practitioners through the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, but the Supreme Court in
1997 overturned the law. And what about other religions? The
Drug War has effectively outlawed traditional cannabis-based
religions such as the Rastafari, Coptic Christians, Sufi
Moslem, Sadhu Hindu, etc. Members of these churches are
singled out and prosecuted for practicing their religions by
partaking of their sacraments. Frequently they are targeted
for harassment, surveillance and entrapment, and courts
routinely exclude any testimony or reference to their
religious motives when "the facts" of a case are presented
to a jury. Once members of a congregation are convicted
felons, as a condition of parole after serving a prison
sentence, they are forbidden to associate, congregate or
worship together, or even remain in contact.
Universal
Declaration on Human Rights Article
25.1
"Everyone has the right to a
standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing
and medical care and necessary social
services."
US
Constitution Ninth Amendment stipulates: "The enumeration in
the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed
to deny or disparage others retained by the
people."
Hemp is a raw material used for at least
10,000 years for making food, clothing, housing, paper and
other consumer goods. The U.S. once had laws requiring
farmers to grow hemp, and Presidents Washington and
Jefferson, among others, would today be sentenced
to death for growing their
acreage of this rugged and versatile crop. Every President
since Franklin Roosevelt, including Bill Clinton in 1994,
has listed hemp as an essential strategic material for the
national defense. But it is illegal to grow here and all
hemp must be imported. Banning hemp suppresses domestic jobs
and enterprise in the hemp industries, at an estimated cost
of a million jobs and tens of billions of dollars in
business. The Drug War deprives patients of medical
marijuana, an effective, natural
healing agent. The Drug Enforcement Administration forbids
health care professionals from administering or even
recommending cannabis, even when they know it will
help.
Universal
Declaration on Human Rights Article 26
26.2: "Education shall be
directed to the full development of the human personality
and to the strengthening of respect for humans rights and
fundamental freedoms.
It shall promote understanding, tolerance and
friendship."
26.3: "Parents have a prior
right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to
their children."
Federal drug policy is categorized as
"zero tolerance," to be achieved through the stigmatization
and criminalization of targeted individuals and lifestyles.
The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) anti-drug
program brings police officers into grammar schools to talk
to children about the private activities of parents and
friends. Students are instructed not to take their workbook
home. Plainclothes police infiltrate high schools and
college campuses, engaging in sting operations. At least one
officer even seduced a student to get information.
Monetary incentives of up to $100 are
offered to students who snitch on fellow students, teaching
them young that it pays to betray. But is that what schools
are supposed to be teaching our children?
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article
27.1
"Everyone has the right freely
to participate in the cultural life of the community, to
enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and
its benefits."
"Congress
shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press; of the right of the people peaceably to assemble,"
states the US Constitution First
Amendment.
The Drug War targets specific subcultures
identified as having an interest in illicit substances. The
Rastafari, hippies, and musical fans of jazz, reggae,
hip-hop, the Grateful Dead (known as Deadheads),
and certain other persuasions are singled out for
persecution. Police barricade the roadways leading to
political rallies and annual events, such as the Rainbow
Family Gathering. Participants are systematically harassed,
intimidated and provoked by authorities instigating trouble.
Similarly, political groups are infiltrated by police
provocateurs who try to incite violence and undermine the
legitimate activities of these organizations. People who
take advantage of scientific advancements in the medical use
of cannabis face criminal prosecution. The same bureaucrats
who insist we need more research are the very ones who block
such studies. Federal agencies such as National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA) substitute propaganda for science to
manipulate research data. They publish biased reports to
prop up prohibition. Researchers who produce accurate data
tend to have their funds cut and permits revoked. Those who
support the Drug War with unsubstantiated theories of
bizarre risks are likely to receive funding increases and
gain easy access to news media and lawmakers. Long after
spurious claims have been proven false, such as marijuana
inducing "brain damage" and "male breasts," or LSD causing
"chromosomal mutation," these hysterical charges continue to
appear in government publications.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article 8
"Everyone has the right to an
effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for
acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the
constitution
or by law."
The
US Constitution First Amendment promises the right
to
"petition the Government for a redress of
grievances."
We hereby declare that the Drug War
violates many of the most fundamental tenants of human
rights, and call on the U.S. government and all
international human rights agencies to review this record
with an unbiased and objective eye on the human rights
issued involved. Contingent with this investigation, we
request an immediate remedy and redress of grievances
through the release of those wrongly or unfairly imprisoned
and the full restoration of human rights to all Americans.
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The
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Human
Rights and the US Drug War
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