Economic Human Rights - PA Campaign

Eleanor Roosevelt led a coalition of international people in the development of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948.  There are two main parts to the UDHR.  The first part deals with civil and political rights which are further developed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a treaty that the US has both signed and ratified, with reservations.  The second part deals with economic and social rights.  These rights are more clearly developed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).  Together these three documents (UDHR, ICCPR, and ICESCR) form what is known as the International Bill of Human Rights.  Regardless of whether a nation has formally adopted these particular documents, the rights defined in them have achieved the status of customary international law. This International Bill of Human Rights is regarded as a common standard of achievement for every state in the world.

The Policy Committee of the National Association of Social Workers-Pennsylvania Chapter supports the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) to hold the United States accountable to the standards delineated in the International Bill of Human Rights.  The PPEHRC is a coalition of over 50 groups led by poor people throughout the country who are dedicated to ending poverty and securing economic human rights for all.

Given current conditions and NASW’s economic justice agenda, we have united with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign to organize specifically around economic human rights provisions – the rights to food, clothing, and housing; to employment at livable wages; to health care, and the like.

Members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU)- an organization in North Philadelphia dedicated to ending poverty throughout the world- toured the country on the New Freedom Bus Tour this past month.  Local groups hosted the members as they visited communities to collect documentation of economic human rights violations.  Today the bus tour culminates with a truth commission tribunal in New York City.  Hundreds of supporters-poor and homeless families, organized labor, students, social workers, musicians and artists, the press, and members of religious communities are joining members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union as they present their findings to the Commission.

Each day we witness violations of the rights aforementioned: people live in the streets while houses remain empty, people beg for food while tons of food are thrown away, people who are ill forego treatment due to lack of health insurance, people work full time at a less than livable wage. Every day, over 2,200 Americans lose their jobs. In 1999, more than 1.4 million Americans declared personal bankruptcies.

We need to examine the distribution of resources in our country, educate ourselves, recognize our common struggles as we unite-rather than divide- and demand basic economic human rights for all. We need to start asking questions and demanding changes of the system that creates inequality in a country with the resources to overcome it.  We can begin by supporting the efforts of KWRU and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

For more info visit International Bill of Human Rights

For more info visit KWRU and the PPEHRC

For Information on Continuing Education Trainings regarding Economic Human Rights, e-mail ehr@nasw-pa.org

2004 1-Page Summary of the Issue

INTRODUCTION to the Economic Human Rights Campaign

BACKGROUND & RESOURCES (Where it All Began, Why We're Fighting; Rep. Curry's 2002 Lobby Day Speech; Text of HR 144 and HR 473; Guide to Documenting Human Rights Violations; Fizdale Grant)

MOVING FORWARD (Preparing for a Hearing or Town Meeting)

Testimony of Kathy Bell