Human Rights at a Crossroads

By

Amanda Lawson

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The emblem for the United Nations.

United Nations Emblem

The emblem for the United Nations.

The United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

UN General Assembly

The United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

A map of UN member nations in green and non-members in grey.

UN Member Nations

A map of UN member nations in green and non-members in grey (Vatican City, Palestinian territories, Western Sahara).

Protestors opposed to China’s reelection to the Human Rights Council.

China’s Membership

Protestors opposed to China’s reelection to the Human Rights Council outside UN headquarters in 2009.

A Bolivian soldier standing guard at the entry point to a UN peacekeeping training facility.

UN Soldier

A Bolivian soldier standing guard at the entry point to a UN peacekeeping training facility in Chile in 2002.

The Council of Four.

The Council of Four

From left to right, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France, and President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace conference in 1919.

A 1918 political cartoon.

Kaiser Considers Fourteen Points

A 1918 political cartoon depicting Kaiser Wilhelm II considering Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points as a path to victory.

A 1919 political cartoon.

The Gap in the Bridge

A 1919 political cartoon depicting U.S. resistance to joining the League of Nations and the weakness that American disengagement will cause in the organization.

President Woodrow Wilson addressing Congress.

Wilson Addressing Congress

President Woodrow Wilson addressing Congress on his Fourteen Points plan in 1919.

A 1921 political cartoon.

Death to the League

A 1921 political cartoon on the battle over U.S. entry into the League of Nations led by Senators Henry Cabot Lodge and Philander Chase Knox.

A 1920 political cartoon of John Bull.

If We Were in the League of Nations

A 1920 political cartoon of John Bull, representing Britain, demanding more U.S. soldiers just as they were returning from overseas combat.

The opening session of the League of Nations.

League of Nations Opening

The opening session of the League of Nations in 1920.

Chinese delegates addressing the League of Nations.

Chinese Delegates

Chinese delegates addressing the League of Nations about the Manchurian Crisis in 1932.

The Arabian Commission to the Paris Peace Conference.

The Arabian Commission

The Arabian Commission to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

A 1929 anti-malaria investigation.

League of Nations Malaria Investigation Committee

A 1929 anti-malaria investigation by the League of Nations in India.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Latvia.

International Committee of the Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Latvia assisting in the repatriation of Russian, Latvian, and German prisoners of war in the 1920s.

A 1933 political cartoon.

Doormat

A 1933 political cartoon showing Japan walking over the League of Nations.

A 1933 political cartoon.

The Great Wall of China

A 1933 political cartoon after the League of Nations Special Assembly condemned the Japanese for war in Manchuria.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill meeting in 1941.

Atlantic Charter Conference

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill meeting in 1941 onboard the HMS Prince of Wales for what became known as the Atlantic Charter meeting.

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom of speech.

Freedom of Speech

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom of speech.

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom of worship.

Freedom of Worship

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom of worship.

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom from want.

Freedom from Want

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom from want.

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom from fear.

Freedom from Fear

Norman Rockwell’s 1943 depiction of freedom from fear.

A 1943 depiction of the signing of the Atlantic Charter.

A Second Emancipation Proclamation

A 1943 depiction of the signing of the Atlantic Charter that compares it to the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation promising to free slaves in Confederate-held territories.

A map of UN member states by the date they joined.

UN Member States

A map of UN member states by the date they joined.

1945 UN poster about the makeup of the Security Council.

The World Is Informed

A 1945 UN poster about the makeup of the Security Council.

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt holding a Spanish version of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Roosevelt and UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt holding a Spanish version of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1949.

The Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written on steps of the Colchester Campus.

Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written on steps of the Colchester Campus of the University of Essex in 2013.

The text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948.

A map showing UN Peace Operations during the Cold War.

UN Cold War Operations

A map showing UN Peace Operations during the Cold War.

The U.S. delegate to the UN holding a Soviet-made gun.

UN Security Council

The U.S. delegate to the UN holding a Soviet-made gun captured by U.S. troops in North Korea and accusing the Soviet Union of delivering arms to North Korea in 1950.

Barry Goldwater’s 1960 book, The Conscience of a Conservative.

Conscience of a Conservative

Barry Goldwater’s 1960 book, The Conscience of a Conservative.

A photograph of the aftermath of the 1968 mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians.

My Lai Massacre

A photograph of the aftermath of the 1968 mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops.

Captain Ernest Medina speaking with reporters after a Pentagon investigation.

My Lai Investigation

Captain Ernest Medina, commander of the Army unit responsible for the My Lai Massacre, speaking with reporters after a Pentagon investigation in 1969.

A tank and student protestors in Mexico City’s Plaza de la Constitución.

Plaza de la Constitución

A tank and student protestors in Mexico City’s Plaza de la Constitución in August 1968, two months before the Tlatelolco Massacre.

Protesters in Prague during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Soviet Invasion

Protesters in Prague during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Leaders signing the Helsinki Accords in 1975.

Helsinki Accords

The leaders of East and West Germany along with U.S. President Gerald Ford and Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky signing the Helsinki Accords in 1975.

Sandinistas celebrating in Nicaragua.

Sandinistas

Sandinistas celebrating in Nicaragua in July 1979.

A Cuban tank in Angola in the 1970s.

Cuban Tank in Angola

A Cuban tank in Angola in the 1970s.

Soviet soldiers after capturing Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan.

Soviets and Mujahideen

Soviet soldiers after capturing Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Iranian students storming the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Storming the U.S. Embassy

Iranian students storming the U.S. Embassy in Tehran before taking U.S. hostages in November 1979.

A campaign button from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign.

Let’s Make America Great Again

A campaign button from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign (image from the managing editor’s collection).

President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office.

Reagan and Iran-Contra Affair

President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office discussing remarks on the Iran-Contra affair with aids Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan in 1986.

The UN Security Council establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.

Security Council

The UN Security Council establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in 1993.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2003.

International Criminal Tribunal Rwanda

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2003.

The International Criminal Court building in the Hague.

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court building in the Hague.

Parties and signatories of the Rome Statute as of 2013.

Rome Statute Map

Parties and signatories of the Rome Statute as of 2013.

The opening session of the 2018 session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Human Rights Council

The opening session of the 2018 session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and now-former U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley.

Pompeo and Haley

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and now-former U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Nikki Haley delivering remarks on the Human Rights Council in June 2018.

A 2017 mural in Dover, England by the artist Banksy.

Brexit Mural

A 2017 mural in Dover, England by the artist Banksy to depict the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union.

A Nepalese soldier patrolling while pallets of humanitarian aid drop in Haiti.

UN Humanitarian Aid

A Nepalese soldier patrolling while pallets of humanitarian aid drop in Haiti in 2010.

The UN General Assembly hall in New York City.

UN General Assembly

The UN General Assembly hall in New York City in 2012.

President Donald Trump addressing the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2018.

Trump at UN

President Donald Trump addressing the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2018 at the UN Headquarters in New York [Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian].

Human Rights Council

The logo for the UN Human Rights Council.

International Criminal Court

The logo for the International Criminal Court.

A button from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign.

Reagan Campaign Button

A button from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign.

Donald Trump wearing one of his iconic 'Make America Great Again' hats.

“MAGA” Hat

Donald Trump wearing one of his iconic “Make America Great Again” hats during the 2016 campaign.

Dionysus and satyrs depicted on the interior of a cup.

Dionysus and Satyrs

Dionysus and satyrs depicted on the interior of a cup, ca. 480 BCE.

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