International Human Rights

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Introduction

The USA is considered as the bastion of democracy around the world more so after the

events of 9/11 that saw President Bush rally not only his nation but the rest of the world into

joining the crusade against an axis of evil that threatened the freedoms and liberties of nations.

There are indeed many forms of evils in the world majority of which are captured in the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR) that nations were

asked to find means and ways to secure them on behalf of their citizens. Interestingly, despite the

notion that the USA considers itself as the leader of the free world, it has only done as much as

to sign the declaration but not ratify the treaty. With this, there emerges issues that call into

question the reason behind the failure to have them ratified. As such, the ensuing treatise offers a

discussion that is aimed at offering an informed opinion on the subject matter.

Ratification

There are several reasons that have so far been suggested as to whether or not the USA

ought to ratify the treaty. Frist, it is important to examine the reasons as to why they ought not to

be ratified.

In principle, a closer examination of the ideals enshrined in the treaty reveal the fact that

indeed, they are not rights in the strictest sense of the meaning as is the case with the Bill of

Rights but more to do with goals that the nation ought to achieve. On this platform, it then holds

that, by undertaking such a ratification, the nation would be in principle allowing foreign

elements offer tangible influence on the nation’s domestic policy. In other words, in seeking to

ensure the nation does indeed ratify the treaty, Congress would then be obliged to enact certain

legislations that might contradict some of the values of the nation. For example, the idea on

universal health care is noble but then again, prior to Obamacare, the nation had its own welfare
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policies in place that were found to be sufficient enough to see the nation emerge as not only the

most industrialized but also the most liberal.

Nevertheless, Congress needs to ratify the policy because of the overriding fact that the

USA cannot afford to hide behind dualism and double speak especially at a time that some of the

nation’s foreign policy in the Middle East has been called to question. In other words, the only

way that nations and enemies of the USA can really look up to her is in a situation whereby the

government is ready to act on what it says. In principle, this is to say that in as much as the fact

that the nation does indeed have a comprehensive Bill of Rights, the nation needs to do more to

build on the gains. The reason behind this argument comes at the wake of racial profiling of

African Americans; a closer analysis of the issue would reveal that it is not a question of the Bill

of Rights but one that deals with equity in socio-economic privileges.

Based on the above two arguments, arriving at an informed recommendation calls for the

need to look at the past and also the long term objectives of our great nation. The civil rights

movements emerged in the late 50s because of the need to push the government to do more than

what the Bill of Rights had to offer. The current state of the nation indicates that those gains may

begin to be negated especially at the wake of turbulent economic times. As such, it is the opinion

of this dossier that Congress needs to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights for the sole purpose of building on the gains made by the nation to ensure a

better place for posterity and effectively secure the overall dominance of the tenets of democracy

in the USA.

After Ratification

In the event that the US Senate does indeed ratify the ICESR, there would be need to

ensure that the nation develops implementing legislation that are going to look into the principles
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in the treaty and how it could be domesticated. In other words, the US case is one of a dualist

approach. Nevertheless, even in the period that the nation is still yet to ratify or where it is in the

process of domesticating it, there is need to put into consideration that the USA would need to

ensure that it does not engage in acts that would be deemed as to challenge the objectives of the

treaty. In addition to that, going by the principles of pacta sunt servanda, the nation would not be

allowed to hide behind the excuse that it had been able to enact legislation on the same.

On the issue of compatibility, suffice to say that there are certain aspects of the ICESR

that are not fully in alignment with the US laws. One such example is on the issue of capital

punishment where the treaty calls for mercy on the execution of capital punishment on persons

under the age of 18 whereas the US laws allow such persons to have their sentence on the same

carried out.

RUD

Suffice to say that the ratification of the ICESCR would call for the need to go over the

RUD. With regard to Reservation, the premise arises over the fact that the principles of the treaty

are indeed goals that are best dealt with by the individual party that holds government. Case in

point, Article 9 (Right to Social Security), Article 10 (Right to Family Life), Article 11 (Right to

Adequate Standard of Living) and Article 12 (Right to Health) need to be placed on reserve for a

number of reason. For example, the issue of social security, housing and health are all best on

national policies that are tackled with the executive and in most cases would be based on

appropriations and thus cannot simply be adopted in a blanket approach. Moreover, on the issue

of family, there are states that might present issue with regard to marriages based on the same

sex marriages. On this account, Senate needs to make comprehensive reservations on some of the

principles are likely to bring about a surge in litigations and constitutional appeals become of
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incompatibility between state laws and federal laws and the obligations of the former on towards

the latter. As such, Senate would then need to make an Understanding statement of the

complexity in the relationship between the state and federal government. More importantly,

Senate need to make a Declaration that indeed the ICESCR is non-self-executing and thus the

USA would need time to realize full implementation.

Recommendation

Based on the complexity of the relationships between states and federal governments and

the need to ensure smooth transition of the domestication of the treaty, it then becomes important

for the implementation of the treaty from the state and local level.