Chapter 25: Lesson 3 - The United States and World Affairs

Human Rights


    A human right is a basic freedom that all people should have simply because they are human. These rights include the right to adequate food, safety, and shelter. The right to be protected under the law and to exercise freedom of thought are also other human rights.
    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created to list the people's basic rights. 

• Article 1 - All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
• Article 2 - All people should have human rights without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
• The rest of the articles detail other rights and protections.

    Some countries use repression. This means that people are prevented from expressing themselves or from freely engaging in normal life. With this said, tension between ethnic groups can become violent, resulting in genocide. Genocide is the attempt to kill all members of an ethnic group.

Democracy, Liberty, and Conflict

    Democratic nations do a better job of respecting human rights. As more nations become democratic, more people become free.

    Some nations practice communism. Communism is a one-party system of government based on the idea of state ownership and government direction of property and industry. People in countries that practice communism have few freedoms.
     Countries, like America, have been trying to fight communism. An example of this fight is the Cold War, which ended the Soviet Union in 1991. But, the struggle for human rights continues. There are terrorist group who threaten peace and abuse human rights.

Recent Conflicts

    Recently, in 2001, America faced the worst terror attack its ever seen, with about 3,000 dead. The Department of Homeland Security is the result of the government trying to stop terror attacks like the former. The Patriot Act of 2001 also helped, by giving the government more powers to fight terrorism. The United States responded to the 9/11 attack by sending troops to Afghanistan, whose rulers supported terrorist groups. Their leader, Osama bin Laden, escaped these attacks, but was killed in a raid in May 2011. Even though Bin Laden was killed, we still are not close to ending terror attacks.

   U.S. troops have also stormed Iraq, because President George W. Bush feared that terror groups would be able to access weapons of mass destruction (WMD's). They defeated Iraq's army in 2003, but they were unsuccessful when it came to setting up democracy. When 2010 arrived, President Obama took back American combat troops.

    The United States still struggles to stop terrorism. Pakistan and Iran are suspected of holding terror groups, while conflict around the globe torn up nations into little itty bitty pieces.

Review Questions and Answers

Why do nations and people continue to fight for human rights? 

Because it is important that everyone gets an equal chance for freedom.

List 2 ways that differing political views led to conflict between nations during the Cold War.


The U.S. didn't believe in spreading communism like the Soviet Union did; because Chile, Cuba, and Iran opposed communism, the U.S. supported them.