The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights is a treaty adopted by the United Nations in 1966 and in force from 1976 that has been signed but has yet to be ratified by the United States. It is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, which also includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights.

This historic covenant requires all committed parties to guarantee the following rights:

Article 6 - The "right to work," i.e. the right to earn a living by freely chosen, decent work, and all committed parties must safeguard this right and provide policies that encourage steady economic development for all citizens. Committed parties must provide equal access to employment, prevent all discrimination in the workplace, and prohibit all forced or child labor.

Article 7 - Recognizes the right of everyone to "just and favourable" working conditions. These include equal pay for equal work, sufficient to provide a decent living for workers and their families, safe working conditions, equal opportunity, and "sufficient rest and leisure," i.e. limited working hours, and regular paid holidays.

Article 8 - Recognizes the right of all workers to form or join trade unions and protects the right to strike.

Article 9 - Recognizes the right of everyone to social security, including some form of social insurance. Benefits must be accessible to all and provided without discrimination.

Article 10 - Recognizes the family as "the natural and fundamental group unit of society", and requires parties to accord it "the widest possible protection and assistance."

Article 11 - Recognizes the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living. This includes the right to adequate food, clothing, housing, and "the continuous improvement of living conditions." The right to adequate food: "the availability of food in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, free from adverse substances, and acceptable within a given culture." The right to adequate housing: It requires "adequate privacy, adequate space, adequate security, adequate lighting and ventilation, adequate basic infrastructure and adequate location with regard to work and basic facilities -all at a reasonable cost."

Article 12 - Recognizes the right of everyone to the "highest attainable" standard of physical and mental health, including the right to control one's own health and body and be free interference, i.e. medical experiments.

Article 12.2 - Requires parties to take concrete steps to improve the health of their citizens, including equal and timely access to medical services for all and also requires parties to respect women's reproductive rights.

Article 13 - Recognizes the right of everyone to education and enable all persons to participate effectively in society.

Article 13.2 - Requires free, universal, compulsory primary education, available and accessible secondary education, and equally accessible higher education. Parties are especially urged to make education free at all levels.

Article 13.3, Article 13.4, Article 14 deal with details for attaining these standards of education, and to respect the family's educational freedoms.

Article 15 - Recognizes "the right of everyone to participate in cultural life, enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, and to benefit from the protection of the moral and material rights to any scientific discovery or artistic work they have created."

The Carter administration signed this treaty but did not ratify it. Subsequent administrations disagreed (Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush) with it on principle (primarily because signing it would require them to introduce policies they don't agree with, like universal health care), or simply did not find it "politically expedient" (Bill Clinton) to ratify it.

Please contact President Obama and ask him to ratify this treaty. Let President Obama know that recognizing these rights are integral to our country's repair and sustainable development. Ratifying this treaty would send an international message that the United States respects the economic, social, and cultural rights of its citizens and will aggressively pursue attaining these rights for all its citizens.

Articles 6, 7, and 8 are especially important with regards to the fair trade movement. These particular articles are prerequisites to fair trade and would help move our country's trade and labor policies in the right direction. Please raise awareness about this treaty and put political pressure on our elected officials.

We must demand our economic, social, and cultural rights.