On March 9, the Bush administration announced its decision to withdraw the United States from an International Court of Justice protocol on Consular Relations that the U.S. proposed in 1963 and ratified in 1969. We were the first country to invoke the measure to protect our citizens abroad after the taking of 52 U.S. hostages in Tehran, Iran in 1979… "The International Covenant on Economic, Social. and Cultural Rights" asserts the right of all human beings to freely pursue their social and cultural development and promotes the right to work, the right to unionize and the right to receive "social security, including social insurance", the right to have adequate living conditions, the right to be free from hunger and the right to education. We signed this covenant in 1977 and never ratified it, though 151 other nations have. "The Convention on Discrimination Against Women" that asserts equality of men and women and rejects discrimination against women, including women?s reproductive rights, was signed by the U. S. in 1980, and 179 nations have ratified it. We are the only industrialized country to fail to ratify it. The "Convention on the Rights of the Child" asserts broad and inalienable rights for children under 18 to be free from want, abuse and exploitation as well as to express their beliefs and ideas. The U.S. signed it in 1995 and 191 nations who signed have ratified. Only the U.S. and Somalia have not. The "UN Framework Convention on Climate Control (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol" are interesting testaments to the arrogance of the Bush scofflaw mentality when faced with the scientific reality of human over-use of fossil fuels causing global warming and climate change. We ratified the UNFCCC in 1992 and signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 but never ratified it. The Bush administration has now pulled out of negotiations. 189 other nations have ratified including Russia.. The "Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court(ICC) that has international jurisdiction to prosecute individuals (not states) for crimes such as genocide, as well as other crimes against humanity, has been signed by 120 nations, but Bush?s scofflaw gang does not want the U.S. to participate…
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