ABSTRACT
Human rights can be succinctly summarized: "Equality and dignity for everyone." Human rights were internationally proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), an agreement that was approved by the state parties of the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. As noted, the UDHR never became a treaty, but now most states' constitutions include fundamental human rights, as well as civil and political rights. Human rights are incorporated into the treaties of the Organization of American States, the African Union, and the Charter of the European Union. Climate change will accompany insufferable heat for millions of people, dead farm animals, dried and inedible crops, incessant floods, sea rise and outbreaks of deadly diseases. The United States is relatively unique, first, because it does not ratify human rights treaties, and, second, because it has not revised its own constitution to include human rights.
