Noteworthy developments include a decline in freedom in Russia and the non-Baltic countries of the former Soviet Union, stagnation in the Middle East and North Africa, and significant reversals of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa (Jost, 2009). The largest concentrations of “not free” countries, which include 42 countries and an estimated 2.3 billion people, are located in North and sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Russia, China, and several outlying nations in the East (Jost, …show more content…
reaffirmation of freedom of expression that condemns religious intolerance but largely omits any legal sanctions for criticizing religion or specific faiths thereof (Jost, 2009). Sponsoring the resolution is the first significant accomplishment by the U.S concerning human rights since joining the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in 2008 (Jost, 2009). This step signals that the U.S was right to join the council, as it has made progress towards freedom of expression in terms of religion (Jost, 2009). Furthermore, this shows an overall trend of an increase in the significance of human rights in the U.S foreign policy agenda (Jost, 2009).
Which two human rights treaties are pending ratification by the United States? Why do social conservatives in the United States oppose these treaties? The Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are two U.N. human rights treaties, which have been signed by the U.S during Democratic administrations, but have yet to be ratified by the U.S Senate (Jost, 2009). Social conservatives argue that both treaties pose threats to traditional family roles in the U.S and to states’ prerogatives on social issues, and thus openly oppose the ratification of the treaties (Jost, 2009). They contend that the treaties are ineffective and implementation is limited by the fact that a number of countries with poor human rights records, deemed