Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 7

Article 7.

    * All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

The following defines equal protection under the law. It is: n. the right of all persons to have the same access to the law and courts and to be treated equally by the law and courts, both in procedures and in the substance of the law. It is akin to the right to due process of law, but in particular applies to equal treatment as an element of fundamental fairness. The most famous case on the subject is Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) in which Chief Justice Earl Warren, for a unanimous Supreme Court, ruled that "separate but equal" educational facilities for blacks were inherently unequal and unconstitutional since the segregated school system did not give all students equal rights under the law. It will also apply to other inequalities such as differentials in pay for the same work or unequal taxation. The principle is stated in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution: "No State shall…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

In this and other countries, (see comment from November 1st blog post) equal protection is at best something that is paid lip service. In fact, women, minorities, refugees, the poor, and those who are very ill or disabled do not have equal protection before the law. For example, the racial composition of prisons in the United States would indicate that people of racial minority status are more often charged, convicted, and receive harsher sentencing than those who are of caucasian origin. In the U.S., people who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered face discrimination in the military, are not allowed to marry (in most states) their partner, and face job discrimination if their GLBT status becomes known.

In many countries, First Nation peoples are discriminated against. And, in many parts of the world, women are not entitled to the same degree of education, and human rights as are men. Almost everywhere, as a wise man once told me, "poverty is a crime" and is punishable by misery, illness and even death, while those who are wealthy are respected, receive health care, live longer and are treated better in their legal systems than those who are poor.