Is the United States a party to any international human rights treaties?
The United States has signed and ratified the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” (but not the Covenant s Optional Protocol, which would allow Americans to seek remedy through the UN for alleged rights violations by the US government). And President Carter has signed the “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” for the U.S., but the U.S. government and the people of the United States have not yet generated the political will necessary to ratify this Covenant. While Americans generally recognize civil and political rights as human rights, they have not always shared the same understanding with regard to economic, social and cultural rights (such as the rights to food, clothing, housing and health care). The U.S. has ratified a number of other human rights treaties including the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” the “International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,” and the “Convention a
