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Human Rights within the United States are those rights recognized by the Constitution of the United States and those recognized by treaties ratified by the United States Senate as well as certain rights articulated by the Congress of the United States. The Constitution and treaties are generally interpreted by the Judicial Branch and particularly the Supreme Court. Human rights within the United States are thus largely determined by the Judiciary.

The human rights record of the United States is a controversial and complex issue. The United States has been praised for its progressive human rights record at times and criticized for some of its policies and practices at other times.

Historically, the United States has been committed to the principle of liberty and has sheltered many political and economic refugees in times of international strife. It has a powerful and often independent judiciary and a constitution that attempts in many areas to enforce separation of powers to prevent tyranny.

The United States government has been criticized for human rights violations, particularly in the criminal justice system and where national security is a concern. Some critics (in both friendly and hostile countries) have criticized the U.S. Government for supporting serious human rights abuses, including torture, legal rendition, assassination, imprisonment without trial and for supporting dictatorships.

Overview

On September 17 1787 the United States Constitution was adopted, which created a distinguished progressive liberal democracy that guaranteed unprecedented social and economic rights for all its citizenry. The American system ensures a free society where life, liberty and a host of inalienable human rights are guaranteed by its Constitution, including the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments of the Constitution), and as called for by the Declaration of Independence. Civil liberties in the United States are built on what has been described as a self-evident truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". This view of human liberty reflects the understanding that fundamental rights are not granted by the state but are inherent to each individual (hence these rights are "unalienable" and each human is "endowed" to them by their Creator). The Constitution recognizes a number of inalienable human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to a fair trial and trial by jury.

Constitutional amendments have been enacted as the needs of the society of the United States changed. The Fourteenth Amendment recognizes that not all human rights have yet been enumerated. The Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act are examples of human rights that were enumerated by Congress well after its writing.

The scope of human right rights is defined by case law, particularly by the precedents of the US Supreme Court. There is debate about what may or may not prove to be an emerging human right is held in two forums, the United States Congress which may enumerate these or the US Supreme Court which may articulate rights not recognized. Unless controversial human rights are recognized by the Congress or the Judiciary, they legally do not exist in the United States.

Equality

Racial

The Constitution of the United States did not recognize the human rights of many, particularly African Americans and Native Americans. The US Supreme Court held this in the pivotal decision Dred Scott. From the 1640s until the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the slave states had legal slavery of African Americans. On July 9 1868, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guaranteed principles of legal egalitarianism; however, separate but equal, which allowed racial segregation in the South was upheld until the Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe decisions in 1954. Lynching by the Ku Klux Klan of African Americans and their white Republican supporters was relatively common in Southern states until the middle of the 20th century, when lynching was targeted and ended by the federal government. Native Americans did not have any citizenship rights until the Dawes Act of 1887 and the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

Some criticize the overrepresentation of blacks on death row as evidence of the unequal racial application of the death penalty. This over-representation is not limited to capital offenses, in 1992 although blacks account for 12% of the US population, about 34 percent of prison inmates were from this group. In McCleskey v. Kemp, it was alleged the capital sentencing process was administered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In 2003, Amnesty International reported those who kill whites are more likely to be executed than those who kill blacks, citing of the 845 people executed since 1977, 80 percent were put to death for killing whites and 13 percent were executed for killing blacks, even though blacks and whites are murdered in almost equal numbers.

Gender

With the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, the country had its first federal requirement for women to have equal rights with men with respect to voting. The amendment stated 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 sex". While this does not necessarily guarantee all women the right to vote, as suffrage qualifications are determined by individual states, it does mean that states' suffrage qualifications may not prevent women from voting due to their gender.

The proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, first adopted in Congress in 1971 but never ratified by the state legislatures, would have constitutionally guaranteed the equal rights of men and women. The amendment was re-introduced in 2007 by Representative Carolyn Maloney (Democrat). There is no constitutional recognition of any gender rights except for the 19th Amendment, but there are constitutional guarantees for equal rights for all.

Women are not restricted in employment rights, except in the United States military, which does not permit women to serve as Navy SEALs or in some front-line combat units in the United States Army or United States Marine Corps. However, this is in line with most countries' military policies. The Selective Service system does not require women to register for a possible military draft, a policy which was upheld in 1981 by the United States Supreme Court in Rostker v. Goldberg; the Court ruled that this did not constitute discrimination against men.

Affirmative action

Affirmative action in the United States is a policy or a program of increasing the representation of certain socio-politically non-dominant groups, typically disadvantaged minorities or women, allegedly seeking to redress discrimination or bias through active measures, as in education and employment. It is usually achieved through the use of discrimination and preferential treatment for those groups. Affirmative action is banned in all government agencies in three states (California, Michigan, and Washington); however, affirmative action is practiced elsewhere throughout the United States on both State and Federal levels. There have been multiple court cases challenging affirmative action as being unconstitutional, as some view affirmative action as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Sexual orientation

The Constitution of the United States does not recognize any sexual orientation rights. All Americans are guaranteed identical rights. Some states and some state constitutions have recognized such rights which are discussed below.

Massachusetts and Iowa are the only states that allow same-sex marriage. In 1996, Hawaii ruled same-sex marriage is a Hawaiian constitutional right.

The Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. The Defense of Marriage Act stated no state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need recognize a marriage between persons of the same sex, even if the marriage was concluded or recognized in another state and the Federal Government may not recognize same-sex or polygamous marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states. The US Constitution denies the federal government any authority to limit state recognition of sexual orientation rights or protections. This federal law only limits the intra-state recognition of individual state laws and does not limit state law in any way.

The 14th Amendment recognizes that some human rights may exist but are not yet recognized within constitutional law. Civil rights and disability rights are examples of such rights long unrecognized. There may exist additional gender-related civil rights that are presently not recognized by US law, but if so, they are presently not recognized by US law.

Freedoms

Freedom of expression

In the United States, like other liberal democracies, freedom of expression (including speech, media, and public assembly) is an important right and is given special protection. According to Supreme Court precedent, the federal and lower governments may not apply prior restraint to expression, with certain exceptions, such as national security and obscenity. There is no law punishing insults against the government, ethnic groups, or religious groups. Symbols of the government or its officials may be destroyed in protest, including the American flag. Legal limits on expression include:

• Solicitation, fraud, specific threats of violence, or disclosure of classified information.
• Civil offenses involving defamation, fraud, or workplace harassment
• Copyright violations
• Federal Communications Commission rules governing the use of broadcast media.
• Crimes involving sexual obscenity in pornography and text only erotic stories.
• Ordinances requiring mass demonstrations on public property to register in advance.
• The use of free speech zones and protest free zones.
• Military censorship of blogs written by military personnel claiming some include sensitive information ineligible for release. Some critics view military officials as trying to suppress dissent from troops in the field.

Some laws remain controversial due to concerns that they infringe on freedom of expression. These include the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. In two high profile cases, grand juries have decided that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller must reveal their sources in cases involving CIA leaks. Time magazine exhausted its legal appeals, and Mr. Cooper eventually agreed to testify. Ms. Miller was jailed for 85 days before cooperating. U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan ruled that the First Amendment does not insulate Time magazine reporters from a requirement to testify before a criminal grand jury that's conducting the investigation into the possible illegal disclosure of classified information.

As of June 2004, over a dozen foreign journalists who arrived in the United States without an I-visa were apprehended and deported. The journalists were unaware of requirement, as open societies generally do not have a special visa requirement for journalists, as such with countries like Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Zimbabwe.

When citizens' right to peacefully gather was acknowledged and written into the Bill of Rights, there were no clauses about "free speech zones", "permits" to hold demonstrations, or "protest free zones".

A controversial test of free speech rights took place when University of Florida student Andrew Meyer was grabbed by police while asking questions to Senator John Kerry at a Constitution Day forum at the University of Florida in Gainesville on September 17, 2007. Meyers was forced to the ground, tasered, and arrested for "inciting a riot". He was later charged with "resisting an officer" and "disturbing the peace". He was forced to apologize to the University and the police to avoid more time in jail.

National security exceptions

The United States government has suspended (or claimed exceptions to) various guaranteed rights on national security grounds, typically in wartime and conflicts (such as the United States Civil War, Cold War or the War against Terror). In some instances the federal courts have allowed these exceptions, while in others the courts have decided that the national security interest was insufficient.

Historical restrictions

Sedition laws have sometimes placed restrictions on freedom of expression. The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed by President John Adams during an undeclared naval conflict with France, allowed the government to punish "false" statements about the government and to deport "dangerous" immigrants. The Federalist Party used these acts to harass supporters of the Democratic-Republican Party. While Woodrow Wilson was president, another broad sedition law called the Sedition Act of 1918, was passed during World War I. It also caused the arrest and ten year sentencing of Socialist Party of America Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs for speaking out against the atrocities of World War I, although he would later be released early by President Warren G. Harding. Countless others, labeled as "subverts" (especially the Wobblies), were investigated by the Woodrow Wilson Administration.

Presidents have claimed the power to imprison summarily, under military jurisdiction, those suspected of being combatants for states or groups at war against the United States. Abraham Lincoln invoked this power in the American Civil War to imprison Maryland secessionists. In that case, the Supreme Court concluded that only Congress could suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and the government released the detainees. During World War II, the United States interned thousands of Japanese-Americans on alleged fears that Japan might use them as saboteurs. This has since been proven false, and the United States Government has publicly acknowledged the racist undertones and motives of these acts.

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution forbids unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant, but some administrations have claimed exceptions to this rule to investigate alleged conspiracies against the government. During the Cold War, the Federal Bureau of Investigation established COINTELPRO to infiltrate and disrupt left-wing organizations, including those that supported the rights of black Americans.

National security, as well as other concerns like unemployment, has sometimes led the United States to toughen its generally liberal immigration policy. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 all but banned Chinese immigrants, who were accused of crowding out American workers.

War on Terror

More recently President George Bush has asserted that the granting of Authorization for Use of Military Force by Congress implied the right as President to override FISA, the law protecting US citizens from unlawful communications surveillance. The USA PATRIOT Act has been attacked as eroding Fourth Amendment protections.

Today foreign nationals can be detained or deported for minor infractions, although deportation is not as common as it use to be. The government is sometimes accused of skirting the required legal procedures. Tracking of immigrants has also increased as part of the anti-terrorism campaign, so that foreigners arriving by air are now subject to mandatory fingerprinting and photography. Since 2002, male adults from any of two dozen countries, most of them Muslim, have been subject to Special Registration. The United States is sometimes criticized for the effects of its border control efforts; for instance, between 1998 and 2004, 1,954 persons are officially reported to have died along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Inhumane treatment

Health care

The Principles of Medical Ethics of the American Medical Association require medical doctors to respect the human rights of the patient.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care.” Unlike most other industrialized nations, the United States does not offer its citizens universal health care. The United States provides limited coverage to individuals and families with low incomes and resources through Medicaid, provides coverage to persons age 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria through Medicare, and federal law ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay; however, hospitals can still attempt to collect the unpaid bills, often damaging the uninsured patient's credit.

Male circumcision is widely practiced in the US. There is an ongoing controversy regarding advantages and disadvantages. Some see non-therapeutic circumcision of children as a human rights violation.

Several Democratic Presidents (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton) and legislators have attempted to institute universal coverage, as well as Republican President Richard Nixon. The most recent attempt to institute universal coverage was in 1994 when President Bill Clinton, strongly supported by trade unions, tried to implement a universal-care plan without a single-payer system; however, Republicans in Congress, strongly supported by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, along with right-wing talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, defeated the measure, heavily airing a series of commercials featuring a fictitious couple, "Harry and Louise", who were shown wondering how the Clinton plan would affect their existing coverage. Several candidates (mostly Democratic) for the 2008 Presidential election are supporting various forms of universal coverage. Most Republicans believe health care costs should be left to the market with minimal government involvement. 2008 GOP Presidential contender Mitt Romney, as Governor of Massachusetts, helped institute a system requiring Massachusetts residents to buy private health insurance, with subsidies for those who cannot afford it.

Influential figures, such as Pope John Paul II, have stated denying access to afforable health care is a violation of the right to life. According to a March 2007 poll by CBS News and the New York Times, 81 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the cost of health care. 46.6 million Americans, or 15.9 percent, were without health insurance coverage in 2005.

Prison system

Some have criticized the United States for having an extremely large prison population, where there have been reported abuses. As of 2004 the United States had the highest percentage of people in prison of any nation. There were more than 2.2 million in prisons or jails, or 737 per 100,000 population, or roughly 1 out of every 136 Americans. "Human Rights Watch believes the extraordinary rate of incarceration in the United States wreaks havoc on individuals, families and communities, and saps the strength of the nation as a whole."

Examples of mistreatment claimed include prisoners left naked and exposed in harsh weather or cold air; "routine" use of rubber bullets and pepper spray; forced immersion in scalding water causing second and third degree burns (one documented case); solitary confinement of violent prisoners in soundproofed cells for 23 or 24 hours a day; and a range of injuries from serious injury to fatal gunshot wounds, with force at one California prison "often vastly disproportionate to the actual need or risk that prison staff faced." Such behaviors are illegal, and "professional standards clearly limit staff use of force to that which is necessary to control prisoner disorder."

Human Rights Watch raised concerns with prisoner rape and medical care for inmates. In a survey of 1,788 male inmates in Midwestern prisons by Prison Journal, about 21% claimed they had been coerced or pressured into sexual activity during their incarceration and 7% claimed that they had been raped in their current facility. Tolerance of serious sexual abuse and rape in United States prisons are consistently reported as widespread. It has been fought against by organizations such as Stop Prisoner Rape.

The United States has been criticized for having a high amount of non-violent and victim-less offenders incarcerated, as half of all persons incarcerated under State jurisdiction are for non-violent offences and 20 percent are incarcerated for drug offences.

The United States is the only country in the world allowing sentencing of young adolescents to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. There are currently 73 Americans serving such sentences for crimes they committed at the age of 13 or 14. In December 2006 the United Nations took up a resolution calling for the abolition of this kind of punishment for children and young teenagers. 185 countries voted for the resolution and only the United States against.

International human rights

Support for human rights

The U.S. Department of State publishes a yearly report "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record" in compliance with a 2002 law which requires the Department to report on actions taken by the U.S. Government to encourage respect for human rights. It also publishes a yearly "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.". In 2006 the United States created a "Human Rights Defenders Fund" and "Freedom Awards." The "Ambassadorial Roundtable Series", created in 2006, are informal discussions between newly-confirmed U.S. Ambassadors and human rights and democracy non-governmental organizations. The United States also support democracy and human rights through several other tools.

The "Human Rights and Democracy Achievement Award" recognizes the exceptional achievement of officers of foreign affairs agencies posted abroad.

• In 2006 the award went to Joshua Morris of the embassy in Mauritania who recognized necessary democracy and human rights improvements in Mauritania and made democracy promotion one of his primary responsibilities. He persuaded the Government of Mauritania to re-open voter registration lists to an additional 85,000 citizens, which includes a significant number of Afro-Mauritanian minority individuals. He also organized and managed the largest youth-focused democracy project in Mauritania in 5 years.
• Nathaniel Jensen of the embassy in Vietnam was runner-up. He successfully advanced the human rights agenda on several fronts, including organizing the resumption of a bilateral Human Rights Dialogue, pushing for the release of Vietnam’s prisoners of concern, and dedicating himself to improving religion freedom in northern Vietnam.

The U.S. and the International Bill of Rights

The U.S. has not ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), one of the three texts that make up the International Bill of Rights (along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

The U.S. and the inter-American human rights system

The US is a signatory to the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and has signed but not ratified the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights. It does not accept the adjudicatory jurisdiction of the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Other international human rights documents

The U.S. was one of only four countries which voted against the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007.

The U.S. and the International Criminal Court

The U.S/has not ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the international mechanism for prosecuting individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

Coverage of international human rights violations in the media

Studies have found that the New York Times coverage of worldwide human rights violations is biased, predominantly focusing on the human rights violations in nations where there is clear U.S. involvement, while having relatively little coverage of the human rights violations in other nations. Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan explains, "If we focus on the U.S. it's because we believe that the U.S. is a country whose enormous influence and power has to be used constructively ... When countries like the U.S. are seen to undermine or ignore human rights, it sends a very powerful message to others."

Alleged violations of national sovereignty

1980s — Nicaragua

During the 1980s, under the Reagan administration, the Nicaraguan Sandinistas were perceived as Communist. The Iran-Contra Affair was a highly publicized political scandal, in which the United States helped illegally sell arms to Iran to finance the rebel Contras guerrillas, a group implicated in serious human rights violations, in their war against the Nicaraguan government. The case of Nicaragua v. United States was heard by the International Court of Justice and the court found that the US had violated international law by supporting guerrillas and by direct action of U.S. personnel, such as laying mines in Nicaragua's harbors and sabotage. The support for the Contras violated the obligation not to intervene in the affairs of another State. The U.S. had also encouraged human rights violations by disseminating the manual "Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare", but had little control over the Contras for such violations to be imputable to the U.S. The United States disagreed that the court had jurisdiction or power over its actions and did not consider itself bound by its ruling.

2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt

The role of the US is disputed.

2003 invasion of Iraq

During the George W. Bush administration, in support of a War on Terror after the 9/11 attacks and closely following the War in Afghanistan, the United States invaded the nation of Iraq. President George W. Bush claimed that the objective of the invasion was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people;" allegations which were later proven false. This led to the Iraq War which overturned Saddam Hussein's regime and lead Iraq into civil war. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), on which the United States holds veto power over all resolutions, has not held any hearings regarding violation of international law in regard to this invasion; the UNSC this the only recognized international body with judicial authority to find a "crime of aggression." However, the legitimacy of the Invasion of Iraq has been debated and even Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General during the Iraq invasion, has been quoted as saying " was not in conformity with the U.N. charter from our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal." France, a long-time critic of the war, publicly backed Annan's view that the war was illegal.

Democide

R.J. Rummel in his estimate of 20th century democide counts many of the civilian causalties inflicted by the United States during the Philippine-American War, the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Vietnam War, and other conflicts, as democide. The US is ranked 13th among the nations causing democide (583,000 estimated deaths).

Treatment of captured non-citizens

International and U.S. law prohibits torture and other ill-treatment of any person in custody in all circumstances. However, the United States Government has categorized a large number of people as unlawful combatants, a United States classification, which denies the privileges of prisoner of war (POW) designation of the Geneva Conventions. Once a combatant is found by a competent tribunal to be an unlawful combatant, he or she no longer has the rights and privileges accorded to POW.

Certain practices of the United States military and Central Intelligence Agency have been condemned domestically and internationally as torture. A fierce debate regarding non-standard interrogation techniques exists within the US civilian and military intelligence community, with no general consensus as to what practices under what conditions are acceptable.

Abuse of prisoners is considered a crime in the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice. According to a January 2006 Human Rights First report, there were 45 suspected or confirmed homicides while in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan; "Certainly 8, as many as 12, people were tortured to death."

In 2004, photos showing humiliation and abuse of prisoners leaked from Abu Ghraib prison, causing a political and media scandal in the US. Forced humiliation of the detainees included, but is not limited to nudity, human piling of nude detainees, masturbation, eating food out of toilets, crawling on hand and knees while American soldiers were sitting on their back sometimes requiring them to bark like dogs, and hooking up electrical wires to fingers, toes, and penis. In addition to the acts of humiliation, there were more violent claims, such as American soldiers sodomizing detainees (including an event involving an underage boy), an incident where a phosphoric light was broken and the chemicals poured on a detainee, repeated beatings, and threats of death. Six military personnel were charged with prisoner abuse in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The harshest sentence was handed out to Charles Graner, who received a 10 year sentence to be served in a military prison; the other offenders received relatively light sentences.

The United States maintains a detention center at its military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba and its executive branch controversially asserts that prisoners held there are not subject to constitutional protections. Prisoners there generally do not receive trials and detention is indefinite. The US argues that even if detainees were entitled to POW status, they would not have the right to lawyers, access to the courts to challenge their detention, or the opportunity to be released prior to the end of hostilities and that nothing in the Third Geneva Convention provides POWs such rights, and POWs in past wars have generally not been given these rights. However, no-one has ever previously declared war on an abstract concept (terror), and it is questionable whether the Geneva Conventions apply in this case. The legal and political status of this policy is evolving.

A delegation of UN Special Rapporteurs to Guantanamo Bay reported that interrogation techniques used in the detention center amount to degrading treatment in violation of the ICCPR and the Convention Against Torture.

Assessments of human rights organizations

United Nations Human Rights Council

The United States has refused to seek a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) since 2006 and on March 5 2007, the U.S. State Department asserted the UNHRC had lost its credibility with repeated attacks on Israel and a failure to confront other rights abusers.

On May 18 2006, The United Nations Human Rights Council released a report, which urged the United States to adopt their recommendations. The recommendations included: holding senior official who acquiesced, authorized, or consented to acts of torture committed by their subordinates; closing all secret prisons; closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp; registering detainees captured in the War on Terrorism; and ending extraordinary rendition. The report rejected the United States' claim the United Nations Convention Against Torture does not apply to U.S. personnel acting outside the U.S. or acting during wartime and stated " has the obligation to implement the Convention against Torture in full at the domestic level." The report further criticized how the United States allows executions by lethal injection, houses children in adult jails, and subjects prisoners to prolonged isolation in supermax prisons.

In May 2007, Martin Scheinin, a United Nations rapporteur on rights in countering terrorism, released a preliminary report for the United Nations Human Rights Council. The report stated the United States violated international law, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, by the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and criticized the classification of unlawful combatants and the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act; however, the report stated " is a country which still has a great deal to be proud of."

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights offered an opinion that the persisting racial poverty gaps in the U.S. amount to human rights violations.

The United Nations Human Rights Council lacks any legal authority except to make recommendations to the UN Security Council. The Security Council has recieved all of the recomendations detailed and has not found any violations of any human rights or international laws.

Worldwide ratings

According to the annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, the United States was ranked 53rd from the top in 2006 (out of 168), 44th in 2005. 22nd in 2004, 31st in 2003 and 17th in 2002,

According to the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, which was published by Transparency International, the United States was ranked 20th from the top in 2006 (out of 163), 17th in 2005, 18th in 2003, and 16th in 2002.

According to Freedom in the World, an annual report by Freedom House, which rates political rights and civil liberties, in 2007, the United States was ranked "Free" (the highest possible rating), together with 92 other countries.

The Polity data series, which rate regime and authority characteristics, covering the years 1800-2004, has ranked the United States with the highest possible rating since 1871.

See also

• Democracy in the United States
• Civil rights
• State terrorism by the United States
• United States and the International Criminal Court

History

• First Red Scare
• Second Red Scare

External links

• Freedom in the World 2006: United States from Freedom House
• Censorship in the US from IFEX
• Human Rights from United States Department of State
• Human Rights from United Nations
• Publications on the United States from Amnesty International
• United States: Human Rights World Report 2006 from Human Rights Watch
• United States Human Rights Network
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights from United Nations

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41. Hardaway, Robert (October 30 2003). No Price Too High: Victimless Crimes and the Ninth Amendment. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0275950565. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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44. "Lifers as Teenagers, Now Seeking Second Chance", The New York Times October 17, 2007, by Adam Liptak
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51. http://www.cidh.org/Basicos/English/Basic4.Amer.Conv.Ratif.htm
52. http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rls/fs/2007/85564.htm
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56. "Nicaragua". Human Rights Watch. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessddate= ignored (help)
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61. Branigin, William (2004-10-2004). "Bush, Cheney Say WMD Report Bolsters War Decision". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-06-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
62. United Nations Charter, Article 39. "The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security."
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64. "France backs Annon on 'illegal' Iraq war". Expatica. Retrieved 2006-06-22.
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66. ICRC official statement: The relevance of IHL in the context of terrorism, 21 July 2005
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69. "Non-standard interrogation techniques" are alleged to have at times included:
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77. "Conclusions and recommendations of the Committee against Torture" (PDF). United Nations Human Rights Council. 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2007-06-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
78. Leopold, Evelyn (2007-05-25). "U.N. expert faults U.S. on human rights in terror laws". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-06-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Also published on The Boston Globe, on Yahoo News, and on ABC News.
79. Rizvi, Haider. Racial Poverty Gaps in U.S. Amount to Human Rights Violation, Says U.N. Expert. OneWorld.net (published on CommonDreams.org). 2005-11-30. Retrieved on 2007-08-13. (archived link)
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84. Polity IV data sets

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