Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus 

Let me add that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government would refuse, or rest on inference. -Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 20 December 1787

Absolute national sovereignty yields to the advance of international human rights law:

• Miami Herald, May 2002 United States withdraws signature from Statute of International Criminal Court: Bush is wrong on international court
• Pacific News Service, April 2002: United States fails first test of new OAS Democracy Charter
• La Opinión, abril de 2002: Estados Unidos falló en primera prueba de la Carta Democrática Interamericana
• Pacific News Service, April 2002: A Tale of Two “Terrorists”— Bush Duplicity on Tribunals Must End
• Pacific News Service, July 2001: U.S.’ Role In Serb Leader’s Trial Makes International Justice System Inevitable
• La Opinión, julio de 2001: Estados Unidos en juicio de Milosevic: Tribunal Internacional
• Sacramento Bee Sunday Forum, December 2000: Human Rights: In the company of Iraq, China — U.S. fights globalized justice now
• The Globe and Mail (Canada), January 2000: The human-rights verdict is in: Europe wins — The U.S. Supreme Court has been overtaken as the world’s premier arbiter of justice
• Pacific News Service, October 1999: East Timor: The “Asian way” thesis bows to the inevitable — human rights gaining global clout
• Journal of Commerce, April 1999: Pinochet and Kosovo: National sovereignty’s last chapter

Why human rights treaties are important:

• Congressional Seminar: International Human Rights Treaties: Origins and Significance
• Wall Street Journal: Clinton is Right on International Human Rights
• Wall Street Journal: No Rule of Law, No Free Trade
• World Policy Journal: Tipping the Scales of Justice
• World Policy Journal: Bolstering Democracy in the Americas
• San Francisco Chronicle: Summit of the Americas Shouldn’t Ignore Immigration

The Global Bill of Rights:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratifications: maps | tables)
• First Optional Protocol to Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratifications:  maps | tables)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ratifications: maps | tables)
• Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ratifications: maps | tables)
• Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ratifications: maps | tables)

The European Bill of Rights:

• European Convention on Human Rights ETS #005 (ratifications: maps | tables)
• Protocol to Convention (includes commitment to democracy) ETS #009 (ratifications: maps | tables)
• European Social Charter (revised) ETS #163  (ratified: maps | tables)

The Inter-American Bill of Rights:

• American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
• American Convention on Human Rights B-32 (ratified: maps | tables)
• Additional Protocol on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights A-52  (ratified: maps | tables)
• Inter-American Democratic Charter

Country Issues:

• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: its “notwithstanding” clause (Section 33) allows Parliament and the provincial legislatures to suspend fundamental human rights that should never be suspended, such as the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment
• Belgian Loi relative à la répression des violations graves de droit international humanitaire (1993, 1999) (Law Regarding the Punishment of Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law) enables prosecution of foreigners who committed crimes against humanity that in no way involved Belgium or Belgian citizens — it is the most advanced example of the principle of universal jurisdiction.