Human Rights

As much as the defense of human rights is contingent on the just administration of law and the proper protections that the law offers, it equally depends on the attitudes of populations. Whatever the law may be on the books, policemen and women, soldiers in the field, prosecutors and average citizens all become responsible for the protection or violation of human rights.

Military justice is to justice as soy ice cream is to the dairy version. There may be a great effort made to make the two look the same, but on the first bite one knows the difference.

Every effort by the United States to set up military courts to process the detainees in Guantanamo have failed to meet the minimum procedural refinements we associate with a functioning judicial system. These courts have been given the power to deny the defense the right to view the evidence against the defendant, coerced testimony is admissible and if the court finds the detainee not guilty, the person can continue to be held and even tried again and again till a court does find him guilty. So there may be a judge, a defense lawyer and a prosecutor all meeting in a courtroom but one should not confuse this with a hall of justice.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

We waited with baited breath to see what the Bush administration might accomplish at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in the week following Thanksgiving. Now that our breath has been baited, it’s time to fish.

Of course, Israel and the Palestinians first have to negotiate a two-state solution and then Abu Mazen and Olmert have to find the political capital to sell the agreement (and not get killed or indicted).

Rabbi Arthur Green has been a member of the advisory board of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America since its inception. He is one of America's most interesting and original Jewish thinkers and as Rector of the new Hebrew College Rabbinical School is training a new generation of American rabbis. To open our human rights forum, he has generously shared with us a portion of his forthcoming book on Jewish theology which deals with our responsibility to honor each human being as the image of God. Read Art Green's message and add your comment:

Judaism’s moral voice begins with Creation. Our most essential teaching, that for the sake of which Judaism still needs to exist, is our insistence that each human being is the unique image of God.

In thirty short articles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) sets forth a wide-ranging set of rights, from civil and political liberties, to family rights, to economic, social and cultural rights. The declaration was the product of the haggling of 58 nations and took almost two years, twenty-seven meetings and 1200 ballots on proposed amendments.