No. The United States signed the Covenant in 1979 under the Carter administration but is not fully bound by it until it is ratified. For political reasons, the Carter administration did not push for the necessary review of the Covenant by the Senate, which must give its "advice and consent" before the US can ratify a treaty. The Reagan and Bush administrations took the view that economic, social, and cultural rights were not really rights but merely desirable social goals and therefore should not be the object of binding treaties. The Clinton Administration has not denied the nature of these rights but has not found it politically expedient to engage in a battle with Congress over the Covenant. If the Covenant were to be considered at this point in time, it would likely result either in the defeat of ratification or in accompanying the ratification with reservations that would empty it of any meaningful obligations. Several organizations in the USA mobilized community groups to put pressure on the Congress to ratify the ICESCR in connection with the 50th anniversary of the UDHR in 1998.
<http://hrusa.org/hrmaterials/hreduseries/TB1/Section1/tb1-3.htm> *****
Perhaps, American union leaders can gain a moral standing to press for human rights in China, if they succeed in (a) getting the US government to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- the covenant that China (among many other nations) ratified, though it has failed to implement it (Cf. <http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/ASA170072001?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES%5CCHINA>); and (b) reducing the per capita incarceration rate in the USA below the Chinese level (Cf. "The U.S. has both the largest prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, including China and Russia. The U.S. incarcerates people at a rate more than 15 times that of Japan, and its prison population is more than eight times that of Italy, France, the UK, Spain, and Australia combined." <http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/Prison_System.html>).
Reprehensible as the Chinese record on human rights is, let's keep in mind that the Gulag nation is _here_, not over there. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>