Download Why Human Rights?

Children’s Rights are Human Rights:
A human rights approach
for homeless children
NAEHCY Conference
November 15, 2009
Eric Tars
Human Rights Program Director/
Children & Youth Attorney
Phone: 202-638-2535
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.nlchp.org
wiki.nlchp.org
Why Today?
•4.5 million people homeless, 1.5 million
children
•2 million homeless from foreclosures in
next 2 years
•Wall Street bailout
•Squeezed budgets
Why Human Rights?
“I think it is necessary to realize
that we have moved from the era
of civil rights to the era of human
rights.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Why Human Rights?
Human
Rights
are
based in
human
dignity.
Why Human Rights?
• Human rights are universal and
interdependent.
• Human rights combine traditional
civil and political rights with
economic, social, and cultural
rights.
• Human rights allow different
actors to see their causes under
same umbrella.
Setting the stage
• International human rights framework
for housing and education for children
– Origins
– Treaties
– Specific standards
• Using human rights in the U.S.
• Challenges & Opportunities
Origins of Human Rights
We have adopted a second Bill of Rights
among these are …
…the right of every family to a decent
home;…
…the right to a good education.
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt, State of the Union
Address (1944)
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
Art. 25(1):
Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of
himself [/herself] and of his [/her] family,
including food, clothing, housing and medical
care and necessary social services, and the right
to security in the event of … circumstances
beyond his [or her] control.
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
Art. 26:
Everyone has the right to education…
Education shall be directed to the full
development of the human personality
and to the strengthening of respect for
human rights and fundamental
freedoms.”
International Covenant on
Economic, Social, & Cultural
Rights
Article 11(1):
The States Parties to the present
Covenant recognise the right of everyone
to an adequate standard of living for
him[/her]self and his [/her] family,
including adequate food, clothing and
housing and to the continuous
improvement of living conditions.
International Covenant on
Economic, Social, & Cultural
Rights
Article 13:
…Education shall be directed to the
full development of the human
personality and the sense of its
dignity, and shall strengthen the
respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms…
Convention on the Rights of the
Child
Articles 28-29:
State parties recognize the right of
the child to education…directed to
the development of the development
of the child’s personality, talents and
mental and physical abilities to their
fullest potential.
What do economic & social rights
require?
• Progressive realization
• Relative standard, dependent on
resources
• Non-discriminatory impact & intent
• Respect, protect, fulfill
Progressive Realization
• 1978 -2006: HUD budget cut by 60%
• NCLB not fully funded
• Recession budget cutbacks
Relative to resources
• War in Iraq/Afghanistan: $918 billion
• Number of affordable housing units we
could have built: 7,057,801.
• Number of elementary school teachers
for one year: 14,904,312
• Number of Head Start placements for
one year: 125,579,800
Non-discrimination
• Both intentional and disparate effect
• Persistent legacy of racial segregation
• Importance of transportation, Title I
funding to homeless students
Respect, Protect, Fulfill
• Respect - refrain from interference
• Protect - prevent private interference
• Fulfill - take active steps to ensure
Elements of the Right to Housing
• General Comment 4
– Legal security of tenure
– Services and infrastructure available
– Affordability
– Habitability
– Accessibility
– Location (work, school, child care)
– Cultural adequacy
Legal Security of Tenure
• Guaranteed legal
protection against
forced eviction,
harassment and
other threats.
• 4.5 million people are
homeless annually,
including 1.5 million
children
• Foreclosure crisis
• No right to a lawyer
in housing court
Affordability
• Housing Costs
should not
compromise other
basic needs
• Millions forced to
choose between rent
or food or medical
care
• In no part of US can
a minimum wage
worker afford a 1 BR
apt.
Location
• Adequate housing
must be in a location
which allows access
to:
–
–
–
–
employment options,
health-care services,
schools,
child-care centers
• Services unavailable
in poor, minority
neighborhoods
Elements of the Right to
Education
• General Comment 13
– Availability
– Accessibility
– Acceptability
– Adaptability
Availability
• Schools available
in sufficient
quantity, with
sanitation
facilities, trained
teachers,
materials,
computer
facilities, etc.
• MV - enrollment
provisions make
schools available
• But often, children
turned away
without rights
Accessibility
• Nondiscrimination
• Physical
accessibility
• Economic
accessibility
• MV antisegregation
• Transportation
• Supplemental
services
Acceptability
• Form and
substance,
including
curricula and
methods must be
relevant,
appropriate, and
good quality
• MV provides for
availability &
access, but schools
may still be
unacceptable
Adaptability
• Education must
be flexible to
adapt to the needs
of communities
and students
• MV “remove
barriers to the
enrollment and
retention of
homeless students
and youth”
Human Rights Review
• American origins, followed by
UDHR, ICESCR, and CRC
• General Comment 4
• General Comment 13
– Availability
– Accessibility
– Acceptability
– Adaptability
Using Int’l Law in the US
• Challenges
– Ratification
– RUDs
• Strategy:
– Not straight enforcement, but read US law
consistent with international law
Ratification
• Signed by President, ratified by 2/3 of Senate
• Art. VI (2) [A]ll Treaties made, or which shall
be made, under the Authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land;
and the Judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws
of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
U.S. Ratified Treaties
• International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR)
• International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (ICERD or CERD)
• Convention Against Torture and Other
Forms of Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CAT)
U.S. Non-Ratified Treaties
• International Covenant on Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD)
• International Convention on the Protection of
All Migrant Workers and Members of their
Families (Migrant Workers’ Convention)
Reservations, Understandings, &
Declarations
• Reservations limit scope of treaty - e.g. we
know the treaty says no hate speech, but
that conflicts with our 1st Amendment.
• Federalism understanding promotes state &
local role in treaty implementation
• Non-self-execution declaration means can’t
sue directly under treaty
Treaty as Interpretive Guide
• Charming Betsy
Legislation passed following the U.S.’s accession
to a treaty should be interpreted to be
consistent with that treaty (as supreme law of
the land), unless Congress includes a specific
directive that the U.S. intends to contravene
international law.
See Murray v. The Schooner Charming Betsy, 6
US (2 Cranch) 64 (1804).
Treaty Enforcement
• International
Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights
(ICCPR)
• International
Convention on the
Elimination of All
Forms of Racial
Discrimination
(ICERD)
• Human Rights
Committee (HRC)
• Committee on the
Elimination of Racial
Discrimination
(CERD)
• Also Universal
Periodic Review
(UPR)
Shadow reporting
• US Reports to Committees
• NGOs (social justice organizations) issue
shadow reports
• Advocacy in Geneva
• Concluding Observations from Committee
HRC Concluding Observation 22
The Committee is concerned by reports that
some 50 % of homeless people are African
American although they constitute only 12 %
of the U.S. population. (articles 2 and 26)
The State party should take measures,
including adequate and adequately
implemented policies, to ensure the
cessation of this form of de facto and
historically generated racial
discrimination.
Human Rights after Katrina
Anti-camping ordinance
• Would have criminalized sleeping on
streets
• Opposed with Constitutional arguments
• Combined with Human Rights
Committee and CERD
recommendations
Human Rights after Katrina
Anti-camping ordinance
Laws criminalizing homelessness will
certainly have a disproportionate
impact on African American
communities in New Orleans and fly
in the face of these
recommendations.
Treaty as Interpretive Guide
…Just over a month ago at the review before the
CERD, a representative of the U.S. government
stated that many agencies of the U.S.
government ... have responsibilities for
implementing the International Convention on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
including the states of the United States, as well
as other governmental entities such as its cities
and counties…
-Opening Statement to CERD cited in
New Orleans Advocacy Letter
Right to Education Advocacy
• National Dignity in Schools
Campaign
• Empowering directly affected victims
to act as own advocates
• Create own human rights standards
• Use own human rights opportunities
– Children’s Rights Day - November
20
– Human Rights Day - December 10
Other Concluding Observations
• HRC 2006 - Critiqued continued racial
segregation and lack of active steps to
remediate
• CERD 2008 - Critiqued continued racial
segregation and substandard housing
• Critiqued achievement gap and school-toprison pipeline, recommends affirmative
action and decreased criminalization of
schools.
Using Human Rights in U.S.
• Review
– Ratification
– RUD’s
– Charming Betsy - interpretation
principle
– Revolving door of international law
into national law
Upcoming Opportunities
• Universal Periodic Review
• H.Res 582 - Children’s Right to
Housing
• Other human rights venues
Housing and Human Rights:
The Rising Wave
• Human Rights can contribute to
policy, litigation, and community
organizing solutions
• Human rights can work at the local,
state, and federal level
Discussion & Questions
Eric Tars
202-638-2535
[email protected]
www.nlchp.org
wiki.nlchp.org