Its official name is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it's elegant and comprehensive.

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Today I am thinking hard about the plight of (usually) undocumented farm workers, particularly those in the dairy industry and most particularly lthe workers who were fired from the Ruby Ridge dairy, just north of Pasco, Washington, for signing up for a union vote. The Bingens, who own the dairy, fired them.

Most undocumented workers don't speak up or speak out for fear of being deported. This opens the way for their exploitation. A huge percentage of farm workers are undocumented workers.

In the dairy biz arouond here, whenever a worker gets a green card he gets the heck out of the dairy biz. An article in the latest issue of Utne Reader showcases this problem and the Ruby Ridge workers in particular.

Unions are one answer, and a good one, but not the only one. Upright, moral behavior from the dairy owners could fix this plight too.

How do we help others to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Here are the first two "where as"'s

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

And here is

Article 23.

• (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
• (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
• (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
• (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Looks to me that since the United States has signed onto the United Nations pledge, the United States of America stands by this charter.

And, by the way, before shoving democracy down the throats of other countries, we should fix the mess in our own back yard first.