The Daily Background

For a Human Rights class I’m taking, we’re supposed to formulate a question(s) related to human rights each week for class. I’m assuming it’s for discussion in class but I don’t know yet since it wasn’t assigned until the first class last week. The following is my first one.

In what circumstances should governments be able to ignore statutes of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for specific people?

Specifically, if a person is convicted of a felony in the United States and “repays” her or his debt to society by serving their allotted prison sentence they are considered to be a law-abiding citizen again. However, in 13 states those citizens are, by law, barred permanently from voting for the rest of their lives- regardless of whether or not they commit any further crimes.

Does this constitute a violation of Article 21 Section 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which dictates “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives”?

Does preventing American citizens from participating in Democracy help protect America? Are “disenfranchisement laws” contrary to the American concept of “no taxation without representation”?

Is it hypocritical to deny the human right to “take part in government” with regard to voting– but not federal employment? In 2002, President Bush allowed five-count convicted felon John Poindexter to “take part in government” when he appointed him to a high-level, highly-paid government position.

Filed under: Human Rights, Z-TDB Blog