CEDAR FALLS - It has been 60 years since the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but many say much work remains to reach goals laid out in the proclamation.

The document was signed Dec. 10, 1948.

Because the declaration is not binding, however, the United States - and all other countries - have been "reluctant to live up to the spirit" of the issues presented in the proclamation, said Donna Maier, a University of Northern Iowa history professor who worked for six years as a researcher at the United Nations criminal tribunal in Rwanda.

The declaration, in short, serves as a "common standard of achievement" for all people to teach and promote respect for the rights and freedoms laid out in the document.

On Wednesday, the Iowa United Nations Association in partnership with several local and state partners, will bring "Sixty Years of Human Rights: Is the U.S. Still a Leader?" to the Cedar Valley. Katy Hansen, executive director of the Iowa association, said the presentation will help familiarize people with the declaration and give them real-world examples, courtesy of Maier.

"I hope that people can get a better understanding of what the declaration is: That everyone has rights and we should all be looking out for and protecting those rights," Hansen said.

Maier said that even though the world has had 60 years to work toward the "high goals" laid out in the declaration, they have not been met anywhere in the world.

Though Maier has always had an interest in human rights. She said her experiences living in Tanzania and working for the tribunal have only opened her eyes to how much work has yet to be done.

"I'm quite aware of the attempts to try and push forward or to give victims of human rights abuses redress, but in general, my work in African historical research has made me aware of the shortcomings of human rights," she said. "It is so much more visible there. It makes one aware that these are lofty goals that need to be reached. … We need more than one country. The whole world community needs to come together to support this. I could see it in the research I was doing in Rwanda. No matter how much we said this was a terrible thing, no one was really doing anything about it."

Maier said the U.S. also has been "dropping the ball" with the situation at Guantanamo Bay. She believes the U.S. government needs to make a stand against torture and detaining individuals without charges or the possibility of a trial.

"We have some real judicial and legal failures in human rights at the moment," she said.

The presentation begins at 7 p.m. at Area Education Agency 267, Conference Room G. The building is at 3712 Cedar Heights Drive. The event is free and open to the public.

Contact Emily Christensen

at (319) 291-1570 or

emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.