Political Globalization at the Personal Level

2. Political Globalization at the Personal Level • Given priority of nation-states, the world polity affirms citizenship status • The world polity also renders persons as individuals with human rights

3. Before Human Rights… • The Holocaust was justified by claiming that the victims were Untermenschen, or “subhumans,” who were biologically inferior and a threat to the Aryan race. • To its perpetrators, the Holocaust promised to create a better race by eliminating the “unfit” (eugenics).

4. Before Human Rights…Yale Study of U.S. Eugenics Policy (Chicago Trib 2/15/00 by D. Morgan) • U.S. doctors once believed that sterilization could help rid society of mental illness and crime. They launched a 20th-century eugenics movement that in some ways paralleled Nazi policies. • The eugenics movement aimed to improve society through selective breeding. Research indicates that state-authorized sterilizations were carried out on a large scale over many decades in the U.S., beginning with the first state eugenics law in Indiana in 1907.

5. Before Human Rights…Eugenics in U.S. • Sterilization laws authorized the neutering of more than 40,000 “feebleminded” or “insane” people in the U.S. by 1944. • Another 22,000 were sterilized 1945-63, despite revelations of Nazi atrocities. • Forced sterilization was legal in 18 states.

6. 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs….

7. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Civil) 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

8. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Political) 21. (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

9. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Social) 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in… unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control….

10. Amnesty Int’l – Human Rights Action Appeals (8/09-10/09) -Demand justice for killing of journalist in Mexico -Call on chemical company to address the legacy of Bhopal -Upholding human rights while confronting climate change -Denied protection in Turkey - refugees unlawfully detained -Seven more ratifications needed for Enforced Disappearance Convention to enter into force -Sudanese authorities must abolish the punishment of flogging and repeal discriminatory laws