Human Rights In The United States: Beyond Exceptionalism

393 Pages·2011·1.596 MB·English

by  Shareen Hertel, Kathryn Libal

human rights in the united states
Thisbookbringstolightemergingevidenceofashifttowardafullerengagement
withinternationalhumanrightsnormsandtheirapplicationtodomesticpolicy
dilemmasintheUnitedStates.Thevolumeoffersarichhistory,spanningclose
tothreecenturies,ofthemarginalizationofhumanrightsdiscourseintheUnited
States.ContributorsanalyzeparticularcasesofU.S.humanrightsadvocacyaimed
ataddressingpersistentinequalitieswithintheUnitedStates,includingadvocacy
fortherightsofpersonswithdisabilities;indigenouspeoples;lone-mother-headed
families;incarceratedpersons;lesbian,gay,bisexual,andtransgenderedpeople;
and those displaced by natural disasters, most notably Hurricane Katrina. This
bookalsoexploreskeyarenasinwhichlegalscholars,policypractitioners,and
grassrootsactivistsarechallengingmultipledividesbetween“public”and“pri-
vate” spheres (e.g., in connection with children’s rights and domestic violence)
andbetween“public”and“private”sectors(e.g.,inrelationtohealthcareand
businessandhumanrights).
ShareenHertelisAssociateProfessorofPoliticalScienceattheUniversityofCon-
necticut,jointlyappointedwiththeHumanRightsInstituteattheUniversity.She
istheauthorofUnexpectedPower:ConflictandChangeAmongTransnational
Activists(2006)andcoeditorwithLanseP.MinklerofEconomicRights:Concep-
tual,MeasurementandPolicyIssues(2007).Shehaspublishedin,amongothers,
PoliticalScienceQuarterly,Polity,InternationalStudiesReview,GlobalGover-
nance,HumanRightsReview,andJournalofLatinAmericanStudies.Hertelhas
servedasaconsultanttofoundations,nongovernmentalorganizations(NGOs),
andUnitedNationsagenciesintheUnitedStates,LatinAmerica,andSouthAsia.
KathrynLibalisAssistantProfessorofCommunityOrganizationintheSchoolof
SocialWorkattheUniversityofConnecticut.Shehaswrittenonchildwelfare,
children’s rights, and state formation in Turkey. Libal is currently writing on
international NGO advocacy for Iraqi forced migrants and the failures of the
U.S.welfarestatetofulfilltheeconomichumanrightsofchildren.Herresearch
has been published in Human Rights Review, International Journal of Social
Welfare, Violence against Women, Journal for Middle East Women’s Studies,
and edited volumes on human rights, social welfare, international social work,
andanthropology.
In memory of Peggy
And for Scott
Human Rights in the United States
beyond exceptionalism
Edited by
Shareen Hertel
University of Connecticut
Kathryn Libal
University of Connecticut
cambridgeuniversitypress
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107400870
(cid:2)C ShareenHertelandKathrynLibal2011
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2011
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
HumanrightsintheUnitedStates:beyondexceptionalism/[editedby]ShareenHertel,
KathrynLibal.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-00846-5(hardback)–isbn978-1-107-40087-0(paperback)
1.Humanrights–UnitedStates. I.Hertel,Shareen. II.Libal,Kathryn,1968–
III.Title.
jc599.u5h754 2011
323.0973–dc22 2010048058
isbn978-1-107-00846-5Hardback
isbn978-1-107-40087-0Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls
forexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Contributors pageix
Acknowledgments xvii
Foreword:AreAmericansHuman?ReflectionsontheFuture
ofProgressivePoliticsintheUnitedStates xix
DorothyQ.Thomas
1. ParadoxesandPossibilities:DomesticHumanRights
PolicyinContext 1
KathrynLibalandShareenHertel
section i. structuring debates,
institutionalizing rights
2. TheYellowSweatshirt:HumanDignityandEconomic
HumanRightsinAdvancedIndustrialDemocracies 25
RhodaE.Howard-Hassmann
3. TheU.S.WelfareState:ABattlegroundforHumanRights 46
MimiAbramovitz
4. DrawingLinesintheSand:BuildingEconomicandSocial
RightsNormsintheUnitedStates 68
CathyAlbisa
5. StateandLocalCommissionsasSitesforDomestic
HumanRightsImplementation 89
RisaE.Kaufman
v
vi Contents
section ii. challenging public/private divides
6. TheCuriousResistancetoSeeingDomesticViolenceasa
HumanRightsViolationintheUnitedStates 113
SallyEngleMerryandJessicaShimmin
7. AttheCrossroads:Children’sRightsandthe
U.S.Government 132
JonathanTodres
8. EntrenchedInequity:HealthCareintheUnitedStates 153
JeanConnollyCarmalt,SarahZaidi,andAliciaElyYamin
9. BusinessandHumanRights:ANewApproachto
AdvancingEnvironmentalJusticeinthe
UnitedStates 175
JoanneBauer
section iii. from the margins to the center: making
harms visible through human rights framing
10. TheLawandPoliticsofU.S.ParticipationintheUN
ConventionontheRightsofPersonswithDisabilities 199
MichaelAshleySteinandJanetE.Lord
11. TheAnomalyofCitizenshipforIndigenousRights 217
BethanyR.Berger
12. HumanRightsViolationsasObstaclestoEscaping
Poverty:TheCaseofLone-Mother-HeadedFamilies 234
KenNeubeck
13. TheHumanRightsofChildreninConflictwiththeLaw:
LessonsfortheU.S.HumanRightsMovement 255
MieLewis
14. LGBTRightsasHumanRightsintheUnitedStates:
OpportunitiesLost 274
JulieMertus
15. NoShelter:DisasterPoliticsinLouisianaandtheStruggle
forHumanRights 291
DavidaFingerandRachelE.Luft
Contents vii
Appendix 1: UniversalDeclarationofHumanRights 313
Appendix 2: InternationalCovenantonEconomic,Social
andCulturalRights 320
Appendix 3: InternationalCovenantonCivilandPolitical
Rights 332
Index 355

Contributors
Mimi Abramovitz, DSW, is the Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor of
Social Policy at Hunter College School of Social Work and The Grad-
uate Center, City University of New York. An activist and scholar, she
hasauthoredmanyinfluentialbooksonwomen,poverty,andsocialwel-
farepolicy.TheseincludeRegulatingtheLivesofWomen:SocialWelfare
PolicyfromColonialTimestothePresent(1999);TaxesAreaWomen’s
Issue:ReframingtheDebate(TheFeministPressatCUNY2006);Under
Attack, Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the US (2000; named
an “Outstanding Book” by the Myers Center for Human Rights); and
The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy (Oxford University Press 2010).
AbramovitziscurrentlywritingabooktitledGenderedObligations:The
HistoryofActivismAmongBlackandWhiteLow-IncomeWomeninthe
USsince1900.
Cathy Albisa is a constitutional and human rights lawyer with a back-
groundintherighttohealth.Albisaalsohassignificantexperiencework-
inginpartnershipwithcommunityorganizersontheuseofhumanrights
standards to strengthen advocacy in the United States. She cofounded,
withShardaSekaranandLizSullivan,theNationalEconomicandSocial
RightsInitiative(NESRI)tobuildlegitimacyforhumanrightsingeneral,
andeconomicandsocialrightsinparticular,intheUnitedStates.Albisa
(with Martha Davis and Cindy Soohoo) is an editor of the Bringing
Human Rights Home series (Pennsylvania 2008) and has published on
botheconomic and socialrights,as wellas reproductive rights issues,in
theUnitedStates.AlbisahastaughtatColumbiaLawSchoolandCornell
Law School and currently teaches at the CUNY School of Law. She is
Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for Constitutional
Rights and serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Social
ix