
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 24, 1994                   TAG: 9402250032
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.N. TREATIES

THE INTERNATIONAL Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The American Convention on Human Rights. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Convention on the Rights of the Child.

All these treaties have been passed by the United Nations, some as long ago as the 1960s, the most recent four years ago. All reflect the principles of freedom, equality and justice on which this nation was founded. All have been signed by all of the world's major democracies. Except the United States.

The major democracy - grown mighty atop its solid foundation of belief in "certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - seems reluctant to acknowledge the yearning of f+iallo men and women to live in dignity. How else to explain the listlessness that these human-rights treaties have met in the U.S. Senate, where they have been stalled in the Foreign Relations Committee?

The United States owes $1 billion to the United Nations. As a founding nation, a wealthy nation, and one that professes to believe in the goals of a U.N. assembly formed to encourage the peaceful resolution of disputes among countries, America should give the organization its monetary support.

And its moral support, particularly on matters to do with the "inalienable rights" of all people, rights its own citizens hold dear. Doing what is right in this case, by passing these treaties, would be a cost-free way to strengthen the high purpose of the United Nations.

It is time the U.S. Senate, with a show of leadership from President Clinton, shook off its languor and approved these treaties, telling the world that America still believes in and is still a synonym for "freedom."

by CNB