CivilRights

Human Rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all human beings are entitled, like civil and political rights, the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and speech/expression, equality before the law, social, cultural and economic rights, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education. In short, human rights are freedoms established by custom or international agreement that protect the interests of humans and the conduct of governments in every nation.

Human rights are distinct from civil liberties, which are freedoms established by the law of a particular state and applied by that state in its own jurisdiction.

Human rights laws have been defined by international conventions, by treaties, and by organizations, particularly the United Nations. These laws prohibit practices such as torture, slavery, summary execution without trial, and arbitrary detention or exile. Many human rights are secured by agreements between the governments and those they govern, such as the U.S. Constitution. Others are protected by international laws and pressure.

For more information on Human Rights laws, please refer to the materials below. Additionally, should you need the assistance of a human rights attorney, you may find lists of legal professionals on website HG.org

Know Your Rights!

What is the Difference Between a Human Right and a Civil Right?

When Does the Geneva Convention Apply?

ABA - Rule of Law Initiative

The Rule of Law Initiative is a public service project of the American Bar Association dedicated to promoting rule of law around the world. The Rule of Law Initiative believes that rule of law promotion is the most effective long-term antidote to the pressing problems facing the world community today, including poverty, economic stagnation, and conflict.

ABA - Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities

Created in 1966, the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities provides leadership within the ABA and the legal profession in protecting and advancing human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. The Section fulfills this role by 1) raising and addressing often complex and difficult civil rights and civil liberties issues in a changing and diverse society, and 2) ensuring that protection of individual rights remains a focus of legal and policy decisions.

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Promoting freedom and democracy and protecting human rights around the world are central to U.S. foreign policy. The values captured in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in other global and regional commitments are consistent with the values upon which the United States was founded centuries ago.

Human Rights - Definition

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 by international watchdog organizations and is considered to be among the world's most free nations, although it has faced some criticism for certain policies and practices.

Human Rights First - Law and Security Program

Human Rights First promotes national security policies that respect human rights, focusing primarily on U.S. counterterrorism measures. The Law and Security program works to bring government counterterrorism and related national security efforts into compliance with international humanitarian law (laws of armed conflict) and human rights law.

Human Rights USA

Human Rights USA is dedicated to preventing torture and other major human rights abuses through bold and innovative litigation in U.S. courts. What sets us apart from other human rights groups is that we focus primarily on the United States’ compliance with international human rights norms, using litigation as the primary tool for securing compliance and for bringing public attention to these problems.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - Charters of Freedom

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.

The USA and Human Rights

The leaders of the United States of America are proud to present the picture of being the foremost bearers of human rights. Yet, they have often been heavily criticized for advancing their own interests and of double standards.

US Department of State - Human Rights

The protection of fundamental human rights was a foundation stone in the establishment of the United States over 200 years ago. Since then, a central goal of U.S. foreign policy has been the promotion of respect for human rights, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United States understands that the existence of human rights helps secure the peace, deter aggression, promote the rule of law, combat crime and corruption, strengthen democracies, and prevent humanitarian crises.

US Human Rights Network

Underlying all human rights work in the United States is a commitment to challenge the belief that the United States is inherently superior to other countries of the world, and that neither the US government nor the US rights movements have anything to gain from the domestic application of human rights.

American Association of Retired Persons - The AARP is a non-profit advocacy group working to support the rights of individuals age 50 and older.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - A non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the individual rights and liberties provided under the Constitution.

Asian Law Caucus - The nation’s first legal and civil rights organization serving the low-income Asian Pacific American communities

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund - A national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian

Center for Fair Voting and Democracy - A non-profit group that advocates for electoral reform and voting rights.

Civil Rights Project - UCLA (was Harvard University) - A group dedicated to researching issues of civil rights and equal opportunity for racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.

CivilRights.org - A non-profit organization working to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all individuals in the U.S.

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund - The oldest and largest national legal organization working to achieve equal rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people.

League of Women Voters of the U.S. - A group dedicated to improving government and engagging all citizens in the decision-making process.

Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund - One of the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organizations.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) - A group dedicated to eliminating race-based discrimination and ensuring equality in all areas of American life.

National Organization for Women - A non-profit organization dedicated to achieving women's equality.

Southern Poverty Law Center - A nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and seeking justice for vulnerable members of society.

- See more at: http://civilrights.findlaw.com/enforcing-your-civil-rights/civil-rights-organizations-non-government.html#sthash.ITP3uiNg.dpuf

Criminal

Contact your local FBI field office to report incidents of:

Hate crimes;

Excessive force or other Constitutional violations by persons acting as law enforcement officials or public officials;

Human trafficking and involuntary servitude;

Force, threats, or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive health care services;

Force or threats to interfere with the exercise of religious beliefs and destruction, defacing, or damage of religious property; or,

Force or threats to interfere with the right to vote based on race, color, national origin, or religion.

You can find your local office here:
http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm

Please include as many details of the incident as possible, such as the dates and times; names of possible witnesses; and supporting documents, such as police and medical reports, or photographs.

You may also mail a written copy of the complaint and materials you submitted to the FBI to the Criminal Section at:

US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Civil Rights Division
Criminal Section â€“ PHB
Washington, DC 20530

Are we becoming a police state? Five things that have civil liberties advocates nervous

CIVIL RIGHTS

PDF: Common Law and Civil Law Traditions

Civil Liberties Today

Constitutional Rights

Privacy rights battle just beginning

January 31, 2012 crisisboom Comments off

thetandd.com

THE ISSUE: Ruling on GPS attachment

OUR VIEW: Technology forcing need for clarification on privacy rights

The U.S. Supreme Court rightly ruled n United States vs. Jones that secretly tracking people’s movements by attaching GPS devices to their cars violated the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches unless police first get a warrant from a judge.

While the justices came down firmly on the side of privacy in this case, the battle is just beginning to protect privacy rights in this age of technology when more eyes are watching us than ever before.

The court’s ruling validates the belief that people have a reasonable expectation that they will not be subject to constant monitoring by the government, and that escalating secretive technological surveillance violates a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy.

“We have entered a new and frightening age when advancing technology is erasing the Fourth Amendment,” says John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute.

“Thankfully, in recognizing that the placement of a GPS device on Antoine Jones’s Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure, the U.S. Supreme Court has sent a resounding message to government officials – especially law enforcement officials – that there are limits to their powers.”

Government lawyers argued that Jones had no expectation of privacy when he traveled on public roads and that, in any case, tracking his movements through the GPS was no different than surveillance of his comings and goings by police officers physically shadowing him. The only difference was the GPS accomplished the same task more efficiently, they argued.

Justice Antonin Scalia dismissed that claim on the grounds that installing the device on a private car constituted a “search” under the Fourth Amendment and therefore required police to obtain a warrant. Scalia based his reasoning on an obscure provision of 18th century tort law that seemed to limit the ruling’s application to devices “physically” attached to a subject’s vehicle. However, in concurring opinions, several of the justices suggested the requirement for a warrant may also apply to a much broader range of technologies.

And those technologies abound, points out The Rutherford Institute’s Whitehead.

Here are just a few:

Drones – pilotless, remote-controlled aircraft used extensively in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan – are being used increasingly domestically by law enforcement. Some states are proposing to use drones to track citizens and closely monitor individuals based on the mere suspicions of law enforcement officers.
Surveillance cameras – According to Whitehead, a member of the surveillance camera industry has said, “Pretty soon, security cameras will be like smoke detectors: They’ll be everywhere.” And Whitehead notes, “The cameras, installed on office buildings, banks, stores, and private establishments, open the door to suspicionless monitoring of innocent individuals that chill the exercise of First Amendment rights. For example, the New York Police Department has adopted the practice of videotaping individuals engaged in lawful public demonstrations. The government also uses traffic cameras as a form of visual surveillance to track individuals as they move about a city.”

Smart dust devices – Tiny, wireless microelectromechanical sensors that can detect light and movement. These “motes” could eventually be as small as a grain of sand, but will still be capable of gathering massive amounts of data, running computations and communicating that information using two-way band radio between motes as far as 1,000 feet away. Whitehead points out that in the near future, law enforcement officials will be able to use these devices to maintain covert surveillance operations on unsuspecting citizens.

Then there are RFIDs, Radio Frequency Identifications, that have the ability to contain or transmit information wirelessly using radio waves. And don’t forget cell phones that contain tracking chips which enable cellular providers to collect data on and identify the location of the user. On top of that, Google announced this week it will be gathering and storing more information than ever before on users of its products beginning in March, and the kicker is that Google users won’t be able to opt out of this “data mining” feature.

It all smacks of George Orwell’s “1984,” doesn’t it? There appears to be no end to how far surveillance technologies will be able to intrude into our private lives.

That’s why we believe congressional hearings are needed now on comprehensive legislation to deal with these issues. As Justice Alito recognized, “the best solution to privacy concerns may be legislative. A legislative body is well situated to gauge changing public attitudes, to draw detailed lines and to balance privacy and public safety in a comprehensive way.”

Citizens Against Harmful Technology

CitizensAHT.org

Website Dedicated toTargeted Individuals

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