Another UN document every American citizen should know: The Convention on the Rights of the Child -- see "full text" link on left menu.

It's good to know that however disappointing the UN is on the grounds of action, it has on more than one occasion (or these two -- a good forty years apart) managed to cobble together a document on human rights that makes sense, one that gives all nations firm guidelines for conduct.

Of course, we'd all hope they wouldn't need one on such basic matters as human dignity, but there you are: the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.