EUROPEAN UNION WORLD

VIDEO

Europe, from war to peace

Human Rights Problems

There are, of course, less attractive sides to the U.S. heritage. Slavery was an accepted practice in the southern states during the first 75 years of the American republic, and racial discrimination in schools, public accommodations, and social practices was the norm for much of its second century.

The American Indians, as they were then called, were forced to move westward, losing their homes, their lands, and often their lives. Women were denied the right to vote in elections, the right to serve on juries, and even the right to hold property as a wife. But one of the features of American democracy is that self-correcting mechanisms like elections and courts tend to remedy the mistakes of earlier eras. The simple power of the idea of equality has also helped to correct social ills.

During the Cold War, the United States supported some brutal military dictatorships, providing them with financial and military support so long as they supported U.S. economic and geopolitical interests. More recently, the United States has been criticized in the wake of 9/11 for its treatment of some suspected terrorists, as well as for isolated instances of prisoner abuse by the U.S. military during the Iraq War. The boundaries of rights in instances of conflicts involving terrorists - who, after all, are out to destroy everybody’s rights - are still being debated in civilized societies.

There are concerns in some quarters about the use of the death penalty and the adequacy of legal representation in death penalty cases, as well as the number of minority males incarcerated in prisons for criminal offenses. There are debates about the disenfranchisement of convicted felons after they have served their sentence, and discussions about the rights of sexual minorities. Again, one sees that the power of an idea, such as equality, generates a continuing debate.

Positive Actions

But the United States also has a long record of positive international action on behalf of human rights. After World War I, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson championed national self-determination and protection of minorities by the international community.

After World War II, the United States devoted considerable effort and money to sustaining and rebuilding democracy in Europe and to establishing democracy in Japan. The United States was a leader in decolonization, granting independence to the Philippines in 1946. And with the end of the Cold War, the United States has emerged as a leader in multilateral human rights and humanitarian initiatives in Somalia, Sudan, Haiti, Bosnia, and other countries.