[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 188 (Monday, December 10, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15059-S15060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

                            HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

 Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, today is Human Rights Day. Fifty-
nine years ago today, thanks in large measure to the tireless 
leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, the United Nations General Assembly 
unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  The principles encompassed in the declaration are uniquely rooted in 
the American tradition, beginning with our founding documents. Yet the 
declaration also wove together a remarkable variety of political, 
religious, and cultural perspectives and traditions. The United States 
and the United Kingdom championed civil liberties. The French 
representative on the committee helped devise the structure of the 
declaration. India added the prohibition on discrimination. China 
stressed the importance of family and reminded U.N. delegates that 
every right carried with it companion duties. Today should be a day of 
celebration, a day when we hail the universality of these core 
principles, which are both beacons to guide us and the foundations for 
building a more just and stable world.
  The Universal Declaration was a radical document in its time, and its 
passage required courageous leadership from political leaders. Even 
though no country could have been said to be in full compliance with 
its provisions, including the United States where Jim Crow still 
prevailed, all U.N. member states committed themselves to promoting, 
protecting, and respecting fundamental human rights. Although Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt did not live to see the enactment of the historic 
declaration, it enshrined his ``four freedoms''--freedom from want, 
freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom from fear. 
Individuals in the United States and everywhere else were entitled, 
simply by virtue of being human, to physical and economic security. The 
declaration was born of the recognition, in the words of one human 
rights scholar, that ``what is pain and humiliation for you is pain and 
humiliation for me.''
  Anniversaries are a good time to examine how faithful we have been to 
our own aspirations--to ask ourselves how well we are measuring up, to 
assess whether our practice lives up to our promise. We in the United 
States enjoy tremendous freedoms, but we also carry a special 
responsibility--the responsibility of being the country so many people 
in the world look to, just as they did in Mrs. Roosevelt's day, for 
human rights leadership.
  Today, on this anniversary, we must acknowledge both bad news and 
good news. The bad news is that for nearly seven years, President Bush 
has ignored Franklin Roosevelt's wise counsel about the corrosive 
effects of fear. Indeed, instead of urging us to reject fear, he has 
stoked false fear and undermined our values.
  Wounded by a horrific terrorist attack, we were warned that Saddam 
Hussein--a man who had nothing to do

[[Page S15060]]

with that attack--could unleash mushroom clouds from nuclear bombs. We 
were told that waterboarding was effective. We were assured that 
shipping men off to countries that tortured was good for national 
security. We were led to believe that our military and civilian courts 
were inadequate, and so we established a network of unaccountable 
prisons. And the administration launched secret wiretapping 
initiatives, scoffed at the rule of law, and flaunted the will of the 
Congress.
  Nonetheless, in his second inaugural, President Bush rightly 
proclaimed, ``America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now 
one.'' But, tragically, he has failed to heed his own words. We have 
not only vacated the perch of moral leader; we have also compounded the 
threat we face, spurring more people to take up arms against us.
  The further bad news is that other countries have not stepped up to 
fill the void left by our lack of moral leadership. The hundreds of 
thousands killed and two million displaced by the genocide in Darfur; 
the shell-shocked Buddhist monks in Burma; the political opposition in 
Zimbabwe; the imprisoned independent journalists in Russia; the brave 
human rights lawyers and judges in Pakistan--they do not know where to 
turn internationally. Human rights abusers win seats on the U.N. Human 
Rights Council, the International Criminal Court issues war crimes 
indictments, but no country steps up to enforce them; the U.N. 
Department of Peacekeeping Operations begs in vain for troops, 
helicopters and police to help stave off humanitarian catastrophes. For 
all these reasons, the world needs renewed, principled U.S. leadership.
  There is another critical reason why America must again provide moral 
leadership on human rights: the fate of women around the world. Whether 
it is in creating wealth, access to capital, and property rights, or 
receiving quality education, health care, and social services, women 
still lag far behind men. And of course the lack of full reproductive 
rights can be a matter of life and death for too many women. Inequality 
means insecurity for women, especially those who comprise 70 percent of 
the world's poorest. There is a clear link between discrimination and 
violence against women; equality and empowerment of women is the most 
effective approach to ending violence against women. Today, violent 
acts against women, in the words of UNICEF, ``are the most pervasive 
violation of human rights in the world today.''
  Women's inequality and the persistent prevalence of honor killings, 
trafficking, repression, and sexual assault nearly six decades after 
the Universal Declaration shame us all. One need only look to Saudi 
Arabia, where a 19-year-old woman, who was raped, instead of receiving 
treatment and support, was sentenced to 200 lashes and 6 months in 
prison for riding in a car with a non-related male. In the Democratic 
Republic of Congo and in Darfur, rape is routinely used as a weapon of 
war by militia and government forces. In northern Uganda, young girls 
are given as ``prizes'' to older male soldiers to reward performance.
  In Pakistan, international observers report that one of the largest 
challenges facing its next election is guaranteeing women enough 
security so they can leave their homes to vote. In Iraq the 
militarization and rise of radical Islam has eroded women's rights. In 
Afghanistan, while nothing can compare to the day when the Taliban 
ruled the entire country, women throughout that country complain that 
their freedoms have been woefully curtailed. The United States alone 
cannot solve the problem of women's suffering and gender inequality 
around the world, but with new, principled leadership, the United 
States can elevate women's economic, political and social development 
to the top of our international agenda and ensure that women around the 
world know that they have a reliable friend and partner in America.
  Let me close by saying that the very depth of the anti-Americanism 
felt around the world today is a testament not to hatred but to 
disappointment, acute disappointment. The global public expects more 
from America. They expect our government to embody what they have seen 
in our people: industriousness, humanity, generosity, and a commitment 
to equality. We can become that country again.

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