Commentary: The Importance of the Commission on Unalienable Rights

by Ambassador Callista L. Gingrich, Gingrich 360  

On March 30,  U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken unveiled the annual State Department report on human rights abuses.  While doing so, he formally announced the disbanding of the Commission on Unalienable Rights. This was unfortunate as the Commission had become an important tool for advancing and defending human rights through U.S. foreign policy.

Established by former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in July 2019, and chaired by former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See and Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glendon, the Commission was created as an advisory group for the Secretary.  The Commission’s Charter stated that its task was “not to discover new principles, but to furnish advice to the Secretary for the promotion of individual liberty, human equality, and democracy through U.S. foreign policy.”  The Charter also specified the Commission’s advice must be “grounded in our nation’s founding principles and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

However, the Commission was recently disbanded amidst liberal criticism for being a mechanism to “promote evangelical Christian beliefs and conservative politics,” and for establishing a “hierarchy” of rights.

But these criticisms misunderstand the purpose and importance of the Commission on Unalienable Rights.

Essential universal rights are under siege by regimes around the world.  For example, the United States has issued a declaration of genocide against the Chinese Communist Party for the forced labor, arbitrary imprisonment, ideological indoctrination, and population control that targets Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.  In Iran, the Shia Islamic regime has suppressed free speech, denied its citizens due process, and carried out arbitrary killings and forced disappearances.  In Nigeria, attacks by Boko Haram and the Islamic State are responsible for the internal displacement of more than 2 million people.  And, in Venezuela, a United Nations investigation reported that citizens are subject to extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, and torture carried out at the highest levels of government. . .

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COVID-19 cases on the rise as Illinois continues to dole out vaccines at record pace

Karen Jozefowicz receives her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Wrigley Field, which opened as a mass vaccination site earlier this month.
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Illinois is seeing a troubling upward trend in its coronavirus data as the state continues to vaccinate residents at a record pace.

Illinois is seeing a troubling upward trend in coronavirus cases as the state continues to vaccinate residents at a record pace.

State health officials on Sunday announced 2,942 new and probable COVID-19 cases and an additional 16 virus-related deaths.

The new cases were detected among 69,600 tests processed by the Illinois Department of Public Health in the last day. That keeps the statewide seven-day positivity rate at a 10-week high of 4.2%.

Illinois is averaging about 3,204 new cases each day this month, up sharply from the first 11 days of last month when the state recorded a daily average of 1,610.

The state has also seen an uptick in coronavirus hospitalizations over the last month. As of Saturday night, 1,834 beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients — a 23% increase from last week. Of those, 409 were in intensive care units and 173 were on ventilators, officials said.

The rise in cases comes as Illinois is vaccinating more people than ever.

The state injected 131,285 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, marking the fifth consecutive day Illinois has inoculated more than 130,000 in a single day. Over the last week, Illinois has reported three record-setting vaccination days, including Friday when the state administered an all-time high of 175,681 shots.

The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 126,827 doses.

In total, the state has doled out nearly 7.2 million coronavirus vaccines since mid-December. However, only 2.85 million Illinoisans have been fully vaccinated, meaning two weeks removed from their final dose, according to the IDPH website. That’s just over 22% of the state’s population — well under the 80% needed for herd immunity.

Illinois is expanding eligibility for the vaccine this week. All residents 16 or older will be eligible for inoculation, starting Monday, though that excludes Chicago providers who won’t expand eligibility to all adults until April 19.

For help finding an appointment, visit coronavirus.illinois.gov or call (833) 621-1284.

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