Human rights and

discrimination in the
US
Iulia Hasdeu National College
Andrei Alexandru Ionescu
Catalina Mihaela Vulpe

General information
Human rights in the United States comprise a series of rights which are legally protected by the
Constitution of the United States, including the amendments state constitutions, conferred by treaty and customary
international law, and enacted legislatively through Congress, state legislatures, and state referenda and citizen's initiatives.
Federal courts in the United States have jurisdiction over international human rights laws as a federal question, arising under
international law, which is part of the law of the United States.
The human rights record of the United States of America is a complex matter with varying opinions; first and foremost the
Federal Government of the United States has, through a ratified constitution and amendments thereof, guaranteed
unalienable rights to citizens of the country, and also to some degree, non-citizens.
.
Contrary to its constitutionally-protected requirement towards respecting of human rights, the United States has been
internationally criticized for its violation of human rights, including the least protections for workers of most Western countries,
the imprisonment of debtors,and the criminalization of homelessness and poverty, the invasion of the privacy of its citizens
through surveillance programs, police brutality, the incarceration of citizens for profit, the mistreatment of prisoners and
juveniles in the prison system, having the longest prison sentences of any country, being the last Western country with a
death penalty, the continued support for foreign dictators who commit abuses (including genocide) and torture of prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay.

Legal framework
According to Human Rights: The Essential Reference, "the American Declaration of Independence was the
first civic document that met a modern definition of human rights."[36] The Constitution recognizes a number of
inalienable human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, the right to
keep and bear arms, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to a fair trial by jury.[37]
Within the federal government, the debate about what may or may not be an emerging human right is held in
two forums: the United States Congress, which may enumerate these; and the Supreme Court, which may
articulate rights that the law does not spell out. Additionally, individual states, through court action or
legislation, have often protected human rights not recognized at federal level. For example, Massachusetts was
the first of several states to recognize same sex marriage.[38]
The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that
"the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."[41]
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government
from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's sex.[52]
The United States has adopted antidiscrimination legislation for people with disabilities, the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).[56] The ADA reflected a dramatic shift toward the employment of
persons with disabilities to enhance the labor force participation of qualified persons with disabilities and to
reduce their dependence on government entitlement programs.[dubious discuss] [57]

Amnesty International
Amnesty International has long called for the USA to have a greater respect for human rights.
One of the things that they campaign on constantly is the death penalty and the innocent who are
sometimes killed as a result. In fact, Amnesty International (where the two previous links are from) has
been quite vocal about the death penalty frequently:
The USA is engaged in a cruel, brutalizing, unreliable, unnecessary and hugely expensive activity for
no measurable gain.
... There is no evidence that the US authorities have prevented a single crime with this policy ... They
have diverted countless millions of dollars away from more constructive efforts to fight crime. And the
macabre absurdity is that it creates more victims - the family members of the condemned - often in the
name of victims' rights.
The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it. The sooner US politicians
begin to find the political courage to educate public opinion rather than hide behind it, the better.
USA: Flouting world trends, violating international standards, Amnesty International, March 1, 2001