112TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION – H. RES. 312, IN-PART STATES AS FOLLOWS:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives (and the American people) that the United States should become an international human rights leader by ratifying and implementing certain core international conventions.
Whereas Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, led the United States delegation and the United Nations (UN) in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Whereas, on January 1, 2008, the United States recognized the 145th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation;
Whereas, December 10, 2008, marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Whereas the world celebrated the 204th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade on May 1, 2011;
Whereas the United States has also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts;
Whereas there are as many as 27 million people around the world who remain enslaved;
Whereas the development of human and civil rights standards and protections requires constant review and attention;
Whereas the United States is expected to be a regional and global leader in the international civil and human rights movement; and
Whereas the United Nations headquarters are located in New York City, and the Organization of American States is headquartered in Washington, DC:
Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives (and the American people) that—
(1) the United States recommits to fighting discrimination, xenophobia, human and civil rights abuses in both domestic and foreign policy; (2) the United States reaffirms its commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; (3) the United States should give thorough review to domestic policy and legislative proposals that would improve the economic, social, political, cultural, and civil rights and lives of marginalized communities within the United States;
The United States Must Become An International Human Rights Leader!
