December 10 marks the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its Covenant of Economic and Social Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt was a big part of that story and in the 1930s and 1940s encouraged a much broader definition of human rights--one that included social, economic, and political justice. Sixty years later, Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt's biographer, says it is exciting to return to that idea. The public sector has been starved for far too long. Social safety nets have been gutted. And our society is feeling the effects. 

Cook says that only outrage and activism will push a broader human rights initiative under Obama. Catherine Albisa, Executive Director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI), says that human rights activists are organized and that it's easy to get involved. To learn more visit NESRI's Web Site and the US Human Rights Network.