Commentary: Human Rights

By William Holston

Dallas, TX –

Friday, December 10 was Human Rights Day. The subject likely would prompt people to think of human rights issues abroad, but commentator William Holston says there are many to consider in the United States.

This year is the 52nd anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the preamble to this Declaration, the United Nations recognized that a disregard and contempt for human rights "resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind." These words spoken in the aftermath of the holocaust contained the commitment of nations towards the "promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms."

In the area of human rights, there was room for celebration this year in the release of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung Sang Suu Kyi from years or incarceration by the Burmese military junta. However, in sum, there's been precious little progress on human rights. Foreign Policy Magazine listed a list of 60 failed states. The list contain consistent human rights abusers like Eritrea, Sudan, Zimbabwe and the Congo. The ongoing violence in the Congo has even implicated United Nations peacekeepers as perpetrators of rape.

Sadly, the United States is not immune from criticism on human rights issues. The United Nations recently conducted the first Universal Periodic Review of the human rights practices of the United States. The process is flawed and can be simply a place for America's enemies to air its grievances. However, there's much value in the word's freest country submitting itself to international scrutiny. In its submission as part of this Periodic Review, Human Rights Watch identified numerous human rights issues in the United States. These issues include one which is especially germane to Texas: our treatment of immigrants, particularly those who are in detention.

According to Amnesty International, more than 300,000 men, women and children are detained by US immigration authorities each year. This includes asylum seekers, survivors of torture, victims of human trafficking, longtime lawful permanent residents, and the parents of U.S. citizen children. The use of detention as a tool to combat unauthorized migration falls short of international human rights law, which contains a clear presumption against detention.

Recognizing this, in October 2009, the Department of Homeland Security announced a series of sweeping reforms on the treatment of detained immigrants. One year later, a coalition of 50 human rights groups issued a report card, which disclosed that while the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to achievement of systematic change, there is a real need to move from planning to implementation. Most critically, there is a need to move from detention to alternatives to detention for groups of immigrants that pose no security risk to our Country. We continue to expend precious resources, placing people in places that are more like jails, when a civil detention model is much more appropriate. Worse, there are repeated and widespread complaints of human rights violations in detention facilities, such as poor medical treatment for immigrants with serious health issues. Other problems include the placement of facilities in remote locations which inhibit the access to legal representation.

Hanging in the Asylum Office in Houston, Texas is a poster containing these words of President Obama, which serve as a reminder of who these men and women that we incarcerate really are:

"For more than two centuries, this Nation has been a beacon of hope and opportunity, a place that has drawn enterprising men and women from around the world who have sought to build a life as good as their talents and their hard work would allow."

Let's treat them that way.

William Holston is an attorney from Dallas.

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