As cited in the World Population (n. d.), the U.S. Census Bureau estimates 7.4 billion people live on Earth. Protecting the human rights of every individual residing in this world would take a substantial amount of time, energy, funding and laws to be achievable by all nations. “All human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security, and education, or collective rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination” (United Nations Human Rights, n. d.). Today, a child, sister, mother, uncle, or grandfather may be denied these rights in some countries. In the United States, these rights are protected by the duty of the state and federal government, but what provisions are established for others in the world? As Americans, some of us enjoy the products and services offered by other sovereign states. We may want to look deeper than the price tag to consider what we may condone fulfilling our pleasures. A crucial factor for the U.S. trading internationally should be protecting human rights in foreign countries with inferior standards. Free Trade Agreements (FTA) All essential information must be disclosed upon when enforcing contracts or agreements between the offeror and offeree. According to Beatty, Samuelson, & Abril (2013, p. 197), “free trade is the basis of the American economy, and any bargain that restricts it is suspect.” Protecting all human rights should be ancillary to free trade amongst the US and other nations. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) stumbled upon defects in the surveillance and enforcement of FTA labor provisions from the U.S. Trade Representative 's (USTR) and Department of Labor (DOL) (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2014). When conflict arises disputing labor laws, only then would they proceed to pry and probe for answers which was time-consuming. The U.S. should not stand by waiting for a problem to occur before we act upon it. We should be proactive and fervently working towards preventing violations from lacking freedom of association, forced labor, retaliatory termination because of union activities, education, child labor, and trafficking. The costs associated with adequate monitoring such as internal and external audits in the trade sector for abolishing human rights abuse may be steep. One cannot put a price tag on a human life and freedom from oppression. Associated cost of international trading “The importing countries such as the U.S. benefit from the lower cost of goods while the exporting countries benefit from more employment, an increase in wages, and profits” (Financial Train, n. d.). Some American consumers can have shrimp from Thailand, laptops from China, or garments from Bangladesh because it is affordable and in exchange it helps promote economic growth for those countries. The underlying issue is not every migrant worker benefits from employment or higher pay,
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Americans and immigrants in the U.S. have seen their days of injustices. It involved violation of human rights, but as a nation, we have addressed those wrongs and continue to improve through movements, public policies, governing laws and regulations. One important American historical tale was the sweatshop operating in the Triangle T-shirt Factory almost a century ago responsible for the death of 145 women from unsafe working conditions (History.com Staff, 2009). What is important to note by this story is that some countries are guilty of the same scenario today. Those women died because of locked doors, working with fire hazard materials, insufficient safety measurements such as sprinklers, and not enough escape routes when the fire broke out. Also, women employed by that company were paid measly wages with no overtime compensation while physically abused and intimated because of their affiliation to unionize. Although some think the United States has responded slower than a snail, some of our rights are protected today by Equal Employment Opportunity Employer (EEOE), VII Title Civil Rights Act, Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA), and Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA). Our government has taken affirmative action for social justice regarding our rights. Undermining these laws places penalties and punishments on alleged employers in the U.S. to include public criticism and raises awareness to prevent future
Americans and immigrants in the U.S. have seen their days of injustices. It involved violation of human rights, but as a nation, we have addressed those wrongs and continue to improve through movements, public policies, governing laws and regulations. One important American historical tale was the sweatshop operating in the Triangle T-shirt Factory almost a century ago responsible for the death of 145 women from unsafe working conditions (History.com Staff, 2009). What is important to note by this story is that some countries are guilty of the same scenario today. Those women died because of locked doors, working with fire hazard materials, insufficient safety measurements such as sprinklers, and not enough escape routes when the fire broke out. Also, women employed by that company were paid measly wages with no overtime compensation while physically abused and intimated because of their affiliation to unionize. Although some think the United States has responded slower than a snail, some of our rights are protected today by Equal Employment Opportunity Employer (EEOE), VII Title Civil Rights Act, Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA), and Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA). Our government has taken affirmative action for social justice regarding our rights. Undermining these laws places penalties and punishments on alleged employers in the U.S. to include public criticism and raises awareness to prevent future