Thoughts about Charities on Human Rights Day 2009

Human Rights Day, December 10, is an important reminder of our shared values supporting and protecting the most vulnerable in the world and sustaining a democratic society.  The mission of the organizations that make up the Charity and Security Network is to make these values be more than a mission statement by putting them into practice.  When U.S. security policy creates unnecessary and unreasonable barriers to practicing these values, we seek to remove them.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948, envisions “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want…” There are two ways the U.S. nonprofit sector promotes and exemplifies this vision.  First, our programs and services address basic survival needs, such as hunger, shelter, healthcare (see Article 25) and long term sustainability of society through education (Article 26), social security (Article 22) cultural life (Article 27) and more.  Second, nonprofits provide a forum and vehicle for people to pool their collective voice and resources for betterment of society as a whole. The U.S Department of State recognized “the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders” in its 2006 Guiding Principles on Non-Governmental Organizations.

The right of nonprofits to operate is inherent in the Declaration’s guarantee of freedom of expression and communication (Article 19), freedom of peaceful assembly and association (Article  20) and participation in the democratic process (Article 21). But the way U.S. national security law has been applied to charities, grantmakers and other nonprofit organizations violates these fundamental rights.  U.S. practice is not consistent with the State Department’s Principles (see comparison). In particular, material support laws that bar aid from getting to people in need violate Article 2, which states:

“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.”

This problem can be fixed.  We can align security, which is also a human right (Article 3) with charity. The sooner the better.