Letters, Op-Eds, and Presentations, United States

The city, state and federal government have the continual responsibility to respect the human rights of children and young adults. This obligation is heightened in the public school system, where youth are fully dependent on the State to provide a secure and humane environment. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the U.S. formally recognizes, guarantees the right to security for everyone and establishes limits on arrest and detention. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child elaborates the human rights of youth. It has been signed and ratified by every country in the world except for the U.S. and Somalia, but is recognized as legally binding in U.S. courts because of its near universal recognition. This convention includes safety and dignity as human rights in the school environment. The human rights to safety and dignity are not exclusively limited to the relationship between students. They also refer to the school environment, which must be child-friendly and humane, promote non-violence and allow children to develop. Furthermore, schools must respect the right to dignity in administering discipline.

Presentación del CDES en el Acto de la Coalición de Trabajadores Immokalee (en español) [pdf 6.38 kb]

Human rights are universal and indivisible. Their realization requires guarantees for all persons, regardless of race, gender, class, age, sexual orientation, disability, immigration, language or other status of the complete set of rights: civil, political, economic, social, and cultural.

Testimony to the City Council about the Right to Education in New York City

1. Domestic remedies must be exhausted prior to filing claims in the Inter-American Commission, however, that requirement does not apply when no remedy is available. Exhaustion is satisfied by article 37 of the Regulations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights because US law "does not afford due process of law for protection of [the economic and social] rights that have allegedly been violated." Inter-Am. C.H.R. Regulations, supra par. 13, at art. 37. Challenges, constitutional as well as statutory, to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, PRWORA, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, in the courts of the United States would be futile thus exhaustion of domestic remedies requirement does not obstruct this claim in the Inter-American Commission.