U.S. Elections

The World is Watching to See Who Americans Elect in November

October 11, 2024 | by Paul O'Brien |USA

People vote in the Super Tuesday primary at Centreville High School March 1, 2016, in Centreville, Virginia. Voters in a dozen states will take part in
(PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)

By Paul O’Brien, Executive Director, AIUSA

As November 5th nears, the world is watching to see whether Americans will elect leaders who will actively protect human rights here and worldwide—or leaders who will deny them. Either way, the 2024 U.S. elections will be critical for human rights, both at home and around the world.

To be clear, Amnesty International USA is a nonpartisan organization that does not support or oppose any political candidate or party. For over 60 years, Amnesty International has worked to protect human rights in countries around the world in a nonpartisan way. And we have called out Presidents and other elected officials for violating human rights—no matter what party they were part of.

And after the U.S. elections, we will come together to demand that all newly elected officials support, protect and advance human rights for a better future for all. But you might be wondering, what does protecting human rights actually look like in a U.S context?

Protecting human rights means:

  • Confronting racism and ensuring that all people have equal enjoyment of their rights, regardless of their race.
  • Overhauling the U.S. criminal legal system, as mass incarceration disproportionately impacts Black, brown, and Indigenous people, as do police use of lethal force and the death penalty.  
  • Freedom to exercise bodily autonomy and make one’s own decisions about reproductive lives, including access to abortion, even as politicians across the country are seeking to restrict and even criminalize the right to abortion.
  • Respecting the right to seek asylum, regardless of the manner of entry, without having to wait in danger somewhere else or be deported in violation of international law. 
  • Living free from gun violence, as more than 100 people die each day from gun violence in the United States.
  • Taking decisive action on climate justice, as the climate emergency is a human rights crisis of unprecedented proportions.
  • Reining in harmful corporate power, throughstrong laws, regulations, and policies to ensure that businesses support—and do not undermine—human rights. That includes efforts to regulate technology, artificial intelligence, and business.
  • Ensuring that everyone in the United States has a standard of living adequate for their well-being, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, or disability.
  • Protecting the right to free expression, which has historically been one of the most protected human rights in the United States, yet free speech and protest movements around the world face backlash and increasing restrictions from state and non-state actors alike, including right here in the U.S.
  • Centering human rights in U.S. foreign policy, including objecting to other countries’ governments violating human rights—even U.S. allies—while making sure that U.S. support does not enable violations of human rights or humanitarian law. It also means confronting the racism and ethnic discrimination at the heart of conflicts and systemic human rights violations across the Americas, Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Our Human Rights Platform for the U.S. Elections

For months, our members have been urging candidates to embrace AIUSA’s human rights platform to advance a better future for all. We know that how the U.S. government respects, protects and fulfills human rights—or not—has a ripple effect around the globe. And we know that the U.S. has not consistently applied such norms to itself or to its allies.

So, get out there and vote like your rights are on the ballot—because they are! And join our movement to build a world where everyone can enjoy the full range of their human rights. Amnesty International has championed human rights for more than six decades, through every single administration, no matter which party had control. And we’re not going to stop now. 

Join our efforts to hold elected officials to account.