human rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states , in part that Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration , without distinction of any kind , such as race , colour sex , language , religion , political or other opinion , national or social origin , property , birth or other status (Universal Declaration of Human Rights , n .d . This article is self-explanatory . One could easily relate it to the life of the average American today simply by evaluating whether the rights and privileges enumerated in

the Declaration are being enjoyed by every American without exception . Once done , it is easy to see that this article has been fully applied in the United States as far as some rights and freedoms are concerned . However , in some areas the country has still a long way to go towards realizing article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

For instance , one could declare that it has been successfully applied in the country in relation to article 4 of the Declaration which states that No one shall be held in slavery or servitude ' because slavery no longer exists in the United States . As a matter of fact , the Negro slaves of yore have long been emancipated and their descendants are now legitimate citizens of the country with rights equal to the rights enjoyed by other citizens . Although they were discriminated against during the early years , government has been doing everything in to eliminate discrimination . The same holds true as far as the provision of article 5 is concerned . Torture or inhuman treatment of Americans including inmates in the country 's prisons is illegal . Even officers of the law , when caught resorting to torture or any inhuman punishment , are dealt with the full force of the law . The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government ' This is the main provision of article 21 of the Declaration whose implementation in the country is unquestionable . The United States is one of the pillars of democracy and has shown consistent willingness to defend the concept of democracy anywhere in the world (Universal Declaration of Human Rights , n .d

The same observation could be made concerning the other rights and freedoms covered by the other articles of the Declaration Unfortunately , the United States is way far from implementing article 2 as far as the right of the people to a standard of living adequate for [their] health and well-being ' including access to adequate medical care , is concerned . This is the main provision of article 25 which the United States government has so far failed to fully implement (Universal Declaration of Human Rights , n .d

As of 2006 , about 47 million Americans could not afford to have any kind of health insurance . What does this imply ? It means that those 47 million Americans did not have access to adequate medical care . It also means that some or most of those 47 million Americans could have...