Civil liberties are human rights

Civil liberties are the universal rights and freedoms that protect individual citizens from abuse by government power.

In our post-September 11 world, civil liberties and democratic processes have become a casualty of “national security” measures carried out in the name of the Global War on Terror. Rights to due process of law, freedom from torture, and rights to privacy that protect citizens against illegal wire-tapping and surveillance have been and continue to be violated by government powers.

UUSC partners with civil liberties organizations and civil society groups working to defend freedom and rights by strengthening individual liberty and democratic processes in the Global War on Terror. We mobilize our constituency to defend civil liberties and democratic processes in the United States and around the world.

Civil liberties include:

The right to vote

Freedom of speech

Freedom of assembly

Freedom of religious worship

Freedom of the press

The right not to be subjected to torture or cruel or in-human punishment

The universality of civil liberties is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the U.S. Constitution; the Bill of Rights; the Arab Charter on Human Rights; the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights; the European Convention on Human Rights; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.