Passing the Torch

The United States was once the leader in the struggle for human rights. It is my hope that we will be again. But as long as our government is maintaining torture camps and spying on its own citizens, I think the world must look elsewhere for inspiration and guidance in the area of human rights.

One place where human rights are still respected and advanced is at the European Court of Human Rights. The ECHR works with European Countries to maintain and further human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as: Everyone deserves rights and freedoms. The right to life. A prohibition against torture. Prohibitions against slavery and forced labor. The right to liberty and security. The right to a fair trial. The right to respect for private and family life. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Freedom of expression. Freedom of assembly and association. The right to marry. The right to effective remedy (even if your rights have been violated by your own government). And the Prohibition of discrimination.

The ECHR allows citizens of European countries to bring cases before the Court and the rulings of the court are binding on European Union Member Nations. The ECHR hears thousands of cases each year. And nations with laws found to be in violation of the Articles of Human Rights must amend their laws.

According to Ode Magazine:
www.odemagazine.com/article.php?aID=4275
"The ECHR can actually set policy for all of Europe, as happened last year in the case of British environmental activists convicted of libel in UK courts for passing out a flyer at a McDonald’s restaurant. Deciding the flyer’s assertions that McDonald’s exploits its workers and sells unhealthy food defamed the global fast-food chain, British courts ordered the activists to pay the corporation 40,000 pounds (59,000 euros; $70,000 U.S.) in damages. After years of unsuccessfully contesting the decision in the British court system, the two activists brought their case to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in February 2005 that the McLibel case, as it came to be known, violated the European human-rights treaty’s guarantees of freedom of expression and right to a fair trial. The British government was directed to pay the activists 57,000 pounds (84,000 euros; $100,000 U.S.) in compensation. But the impact of the ruling goes far beyond that. The ECHR’s judges held that British libel laws restrict people’s rights to criticize corporations. The UK government is now obliged to reform its laws, and so will any other of the 45 European nations with similar limits on free expression in their law books."

You can read about the ECHR and the Articles of Human Rights at: http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR

I am glad that the torch of human rights has been picked up by others at a time when the United States seems to be smothering human rights in the name of fighting terrorism. I hope that America will one day take up the torch of human rights again and perhaps help to found an International Court for Human Rights.