Editor's Note
People in the United States often fail to consider the pervasive problems of homelessness, hunger, educational inequities, and inadequate wages to be violations of human rights. However, as Shula Koenig and her staff outline on pages 4 and 5, food, shelter, employment, education, and health care are basic rights that should be guaranteed for all. These rights are set forth in international human rights documents, which can be used to empower those who are working for the achievement of such rights.
Many familiar with Amnesty International’s work on behalf of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners might be surprised to see the cover of this issue. Amnesty members concentrate their oppositional efforts on violations of only certain civil and political rights. Rights such as those of adequate pay, nutrition, education, and housing are not directly addressed in the case and campaign actions of the organization. However, fostering awareness of all of the rights articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an essential component of Amnesty’s educational mandate, as Janet Schmidt’s article on the opposite page explains.
The two action cases in this issue highlight the interdependence of the different categories of rights. Many individuals on whose behalf Amnesty members write letters are victims of harassment, death threats, torture, arbitrary arrest, unfair trials, detention, or disappearance, as a direct result of their efforts to protect the economic, social, and cultural rights of their peoples.
It is impossible to cover the distressing scope and appalling depth of violations of economic rights in sixteen pages. Instead, with an eye towards setting the stage for action, we hope to provide enough background information, lessons, resources, and inspiration to help educators broaden their students’ understanding of the range of rights to which every person on this earth is entitled.
Karen Kraco, Editor
612–378–3261 e-mail: karenkraco@aol.com
