Should Obama Hide Muslim Crimes Against Humanity from Justice and the People ?
Women and children are treated lesser than dogs. Terror suspects in America are treated better. Will Obama stand up for muslim women and children?
Browse Ideas with tag 'human rights':
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I disagreeThis idea is active.Legal & Policy Challenges »7 comments for Idea: Should Obama Hide Muslim Crimes Against Humanity from Justice and the People ? -
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I disagreeThis idea is active.Legal & Policy Challenges »Restore Human Rights
The right to a fair trial, the right to challenge one's detention, the right to humane treatment - these are core human rights. They were a cornerstone of American values, until the Bush administration decided to sacrifice them for the purpose of making us "safe." An important means of restoring human rights is to hold accountable those who violate human rights, either by un-American policies, or by their own direct ...more »
4 comments for Idea: Restore Human RightsThe right to a fair trial, the right to challenge one's
detention, the right to humane treatment - these are core human rights. They were a cornerstone of American values, until the Bush administration decided to sacrifice them for the purpose of making us "safe."
An important means of restoring human rights is to hold accountable those who violate human rights, either by un-American policies, or by their own direct actions. To "look forward" without independent investigation and prosecution, where appropriate, is to grant tacit approval to sacrificing human rights on the dubious altar of "public safety." Our representatives swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the U.S.; they do not swear an oath to "keep America safe." An America that is afraid to take risks in order to maintain our Constitutional values is an America that will go the way of the Roman Empire, losing its way into becoming just another bullying superpower. Our ideals are more powerful than bombs or bullets. Let us protect them!
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I disagreeThis idea is active.Legal & Policy Challenges »Citizen Protection Protocol / Law
1 comment for Idea: Citizen Protection Protocol / LawRequire the federal government to create a set of protocols and laws (with penalties) for the protection of US citizens, residents, and visitors whose national and/or cultural origins match those of current or future aggressors upon the US, to be activated in response to foreign aggression.
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I disagreeThis idea is active.Making Government Operations More Open »Double Database to Monitor the Leahy Amendment
Why Is This Idea Important? We want to create an intersecting system of two databases to help implement the Leahy Amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act and Defense Appropriations Act by making that information available to the public. As stated on Senator Leahy’s website, “The Leahy Law makes it clear that when credible evidence of human rights violations exists, U.S. aid must stop. But, it provides the ...more »
1 comment for Idea: Double Database to Monitor the Leahy AmendmentWhy Is This Idea Important?
We want to create an intersecting system of two databases to help implement the Leahy Amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act and Defense Appropriations Act by making that information available to the public. As stated on Senator Leahy’s website, “The Leahy Law makes it clear that when credible evidence of human rights violations exists, U.S. aid must stop. But, it provides the necessary flexibility to allow the U.S. to advance its foreign policy objectives in these countries. The law gives the Secretary of State the authority to determine when the law applies. In addition, it gives foreign governments an incentive to correct the problem: U.S. aid can resume if they bring to justice people who commit such crimes.”
To better implement this law, Americans and the world community should have access to an open database of all foreign military units who receive U.S. military aid and/or training. In addition, the State Department's Annual Human Rights reports should be indexed to note those military units that are implicated in any "gross violation of Human Rights." The intersection of these two databases should trigger the implementation of the Leahy Amendment and thus begin a process that will press for justice by withdrawing further U.S. aid and training from the unit involved.
Creating the databases for government use is not enough. These databases need to be made public, so both U.S. citizens and foreign military units can have access. U.S. citizens should know what military units are being funded by the U.S. government and keep our country accountable for its spending. Foreign military units must see that they will be held accountable for their actions and place their funding and training at risk if they commit a violation of human rights.
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Documentation of the Amendments:
The Leahy Amendment in the 2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (Sec. 563 of P.L. 106-429) states :“None of the funds made available by this Act may be provided to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible evidence that such unit has committed gross violations of human rights, unless the Secretary determines and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that the government of such country is taking effective measures to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice.”
While the Foreign Operations law covers both training and assistance (such as weapons grants), the Leahy Amendment in the 2001 Defense Appropriations Act (Sec. 8092 of P.L. 106-259) covers only training, and states: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to support any training program involving a unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of Defense has received credible information from the Department of State that a member of such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights, unless all necessary corrective steps have been taken.”
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I disagreeThis idea is active.New Strategies and Techniques »Shifting decision making criteria from win/lose to ALL-win norms to build a world that works for all.
The win/lose approach to life which results in the well being of a few at the expense of the many is showing itself to be unworkable. Conflicts are escalating and environmental systems are breaking down. The time is ripe to build an ALL-WIN world which works well for all, including our environment. The world has become interdependent and this means that it is in the interest of all of us to ensure that all people can ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Shifting decision making criteria from win/lose to ALL-win norms to build a world that works for all.The win/lose approach to life which results in the well being of a few at the expense of the many is showing itself to be unworkable. Conflicts are escalating and environmental systems are breaking down.
The time is ripe to build an ALL-WIN world which works well for all, including our environment. The world has become interdependent and this means that it is in the interest of all of us to ensure that all people can achieve meaning and happiness in their lives in their own unique ways providing they harm no one else and that the health of our environment is nurtured.
Where discontent reigns we find that individual people can do a great deal of harm. (That is why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has become traditional international law.) So it is in the interest of us all that each child, woman and man can find their own unique happiness as long as they do not harm others and respect the environment. That is the all-win principle.
Therefore, it is important that all those in government learn to base their own actions and all policies on the all-win norm by constantly asking the questions: Does this action harm anyone? Does this help to strengthen our natural environment?
This norm may be hard to understand for many since the inevitability of the win/lose norm has been successfully propagated by those powers that benefited from it.
Therefore it will not be easy for civil servants (and others) to transform their values. It will require ALL TO BE EDUCATED AND GET PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE TO DISTINGUSH BETWEEN WIN/LOSE AND ALL-WIN ACTIONS.
They will then realize that there is a huge constituency of people who already support all-win norms. These often belong to non-governmental organizations (there are 1000s of them in the U.S., and 10,000 in a tiny country like Bangladesh alone). All these dedicate their money, energy and time to actions that benefit the greater good.
Using all-win policies, the U.S. Administration will gain their support. This will be a mutually reinforcing relationship. They can support all-win actions by the U.S. administration; and with the backing of the U.S. Administration, these groups might form a more cohesive force.
Integrating the all-win norm into U.S. politics is essential for the U.S. to regain respect in the world and for President Obama to live up to the great expectations his excellent policies are generating. Integration of the all-win norm in global politics is also essential if our world, inspired among others by the U.S., is to complete the globalization process in a way that strife is transformed into harmony and enmity into goodwill.
The all-win norm is visible throughout nature: the cells in the human body function on the basis of all for one and one for all and so do all elements of an ecosystem. We see the all-win principle at work in global society in the form of traffic rules, postal and other communications systems. Through the latest crises, the all-win norm is increasingly catching on. It is realistic and absolutely essential if our world is to work well for all.
Perhaps we can get together and see how a number of us can help in this process?
Wishing President Obama all the best in the wonderful changes he is making,
Dr. Lisinka Ulatowska
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I disagreeThis idea is active.Performance Appraisal »Transform Relationship with Native Americans
When American activists try to bring up with the Chinese government the human rights issue of Tibet's oppression, their general reply is, "When you address the unresolved issues with Native Americans, then we'll talk." Obama was the first US president to ever visit a Native American reservation while on campaign. And still, at the inauguration, there was no ceremonial presence or mention of the people who originally ...more »
5 comments for Idea: Transform Relationship with Native AmericansWhen American activists try to bring up with the Chinese government the human rights issue of Tibet's oppression, their general reply is, "When you address the unresolved issues with Native Americans, then we'll talk."
Obama was the first US president to ever visit a Native American reservation while on campaign. And still, at the inauguration, there was no ceremonial presence or mention of the people who originally were free in this land until "America" came along.
We are hypocrites if we continue to talk of freedom and liberation and yet do nothing to apologize and make ammends for our 500-year abuse and systematic oppression of Native Peoples.
Specific measures to be taken? There should be research done into this once the general principle is perceived and its importance agreed upon: that America was and is still founded upon clearly documented mistreatment of, broken official treaties with, and religious persecution of the original peoples of this land. There is much to be done.
A few years ago, Canada's government officially enacted a Truth and Reconciliation process that is now going on, including widespread interviews with victims of government Residential Schools. Our government should do the same, and more, serving as a role model for China, Israel, Iran, or any country we wish to sit down and seriously talk with about "human rights" and "freedom".
We need to change our public education to reflect a truer story of America's founding and development, and we need to change our current policies and land-use to reflect at least some of the original agreements that our government made at one time and then broke.
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