Human Rights Abuse at Home

If Washington followed the advice they're quick to give the rest of the world, they could wipe out much of the poverty we have right here in our own country. That's the findings of The U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which just concluded a fact finding mission to learn from the U.S. experience in addressing income poverty, human development poverty and social exclusion.

Poverty is not only a problem of poor developing countries but a phenomenon that is found in most countries in the world, including the United States.

With higher per capita income levels than any other country, the United States also has one of the highest incidences of poverty among the rich industrialized nations. Some 37 million Americans, 12.7 percent of the U.S. population, lived in poverty in 2004. Some 45 million people were without health insurance coverage and 38 million households experienced food insecurity. There is a significant disparity in poverty between African-Americans, Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, said UNHCR.

"If the United States Government designed and implemented the policies according to the human rights standards much of the problem of poverty could be resolved," said Sengupta in a statement.

The Commission determined that the limited reach of assistance programs and social discrimination aggravated the problem of poverty, clearly seen as a violation of human rights. The Bush administration won't care what the U.N. thinks of course - and human rights are not high on their priorty list - so for now, the poor in our country will continue to suffer from hunger, no health care, and inadequate housing. The sad reality is that for many people this form of torture amounts to a life sentence.