The Roundtable
Welcome to the Roundtable, a forum for incisive commentary and analysis
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
 By Omar Khoury
Omar Khoury is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. The erroneous assumption that some lives matter more and other lives matter less than others is the root of wrongdoing in this world. Societally speaking, our worth is defined by the color of our skin and our area code rather than our attempts to rise above the circumstances in which we were born. Despite the criminalization of racial discrimination, it is overwhelmingly evident that there exists a culture of de facto racial and economic discrimination within our country and within the world. Our age-old worship of financial worth and toxic hatred of different skin colors manifests itself in the undervaluing of human life. The current water crisis in Flint, Michigan demonstrates environmental racism, or the placement of low-income or minority communities in proximity of environmentally hazardous or degraded environments. [1]
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 By Omar Khoury
Omar Khoury is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. In signing the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, 188 countries of the United Nations vowed to universally uphold the dignity of the human person and collectively condemn those who dare have the audacity to question it. Once these nations ratified the Declaration in 1976, the bill took on the full force of international law. [1] The Declaration was adopted to define "human rights,” and thus the Declaration is a fundamental constitutive document of the United Nations. In addition, many international actors believe that the Declaration forms part of customary international law and is a powerful tool in applying diplomatic and moral pressure to governments that violate any of its articles, as it "constitutes an obligation for the members of the international community” to all people. [2] Because of its profound legal effect, the Declaration continues to be widely cited by governments, academics, advocates, and constitutional courts, and by individuals who appeal to its principles for the protection of their endowed human rights. Yet, despite almost unanimous support for the Declaration, the reality of our world is eerily different. [3] |
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