The following "Let Justice Flow" column by Bill Schulz was originally published in the Winter/Spring 2013 issue of Rights Now, UUSC's semiannual newsletter. 

We have recently been through an election in this country in which young voters played an important role in the victories of progressive candidates, the growth in women officeholders, and the changes in norms indicated by increased support for marriage equality. As is true almost everywhere, youth are signaling the shape of our future society.

I teach a course in human rights every January at New York University. I love doing that not only because it provides me contact with some of the brightest young people of the new generation but also because it reminds me that all things are possible. My students are not jaded or cynical; most of them are founts of innovative ideas and unstaunched ambition. They are not afraid of testing "crazy" theories or challenging common assumptions.

That's why youth are so often the drivers of social change around the world, and since UUSC is bent on finding the most innovative, entrepreneurial approaches to the world's problems, it's also why we so often end up working with youth — in Haiti, Egypt, Kenya, and elsewhere. The new issue of Rights Now focuses in part on just that kind of work.

Nor do we forget that our own Unitarian Universalist youth can provide unlimited enthusiasm for social justice. The UU College of Social Justice, profiled in the new issue, is UUSC and the UUA's vehicle for tapping into that energy.

Young people are making a new world. UUSC is committed to seeing that it is a just world. The combination is exceptional!

With the holidays behind us, I finally have time to report a bit on my recent trip to Kenya for UUSC in which we visited four partner groups: the Kakamega Grassroots Initiative, the SoilFarm Multi-Culture Group (which runs the renowned Hope in Crops program), the Kenya National Alliance of Street Vendors and Informal Traders (KENASVIT), and Rock Women.

We met with leaders of Kenyan civil society concerning the recently adopted new constitution and the upcoming April national elections. I delivered a lecture on human rights and terrorism at the University of Nairobi. And Martha Thompson, manager of UUSC's Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program, and I even managed to slip in a visit to Karen Blixen's home at the foot of the Ngong Hills made famous in Out of Africa.

The breadth of impact we and our Kenyan partner groups are having is remarkable. The Kakamega Grassroots Initiative (KGI), for example, is supporting women widowed and displaced by the 2007 election-related violence, offering them trauma support and seeding their small businesses. With another election on the horizon, KGI is similarly investing in and training youth to run their own small market businesses on the theory that, since young people are often bribed to cause tribal mayhem in marketplaces in connection with elections, they will be less motivated to do so if they have businesses of their own that would be vulnerable to disruption in the event of violence.

Or take KENASVIT, which UUSC helped launch a number of years ago. The "informal sector" accounts for an astonishing 80 percent of Kenya's gross domestic product, but before KENASVIT came into existence, street vendors and hawkers were utterly at the mercy of the authorities who often had little sympathy for their needs. Beginning with 200 vendors, KENASVIT has grown to represent 15,000, winning numerous concessions regarding such things as working conditions, harassment by police, basic sanitation, etc.

And this is to say nothing about the SoilFarm Multi-Culture Group's planting of 80,000 trees, including in schools where they serve to educate the students about the value of rain forest and counter the illegal harvesting of trees in the Kakamega National Forest. And there is also Rock Women's efforts to end trafficking of girls or stop discrimination against Somali refugees whom the authorities stereotypically assume, given the conflict between Kenya and Somalia, are active in the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab.

A rewarding, if exhausting trip — but one that made me even prouder to be part of UUSC!

UUSC joins UUA President Peter Morales and all Unitarian Universalists in mourning the senseless deaths in Connecticut. I was in Kenya when the shootings occurred and was moved by the outpouring of shock and sympathy from around the world. How many more innocent people must die before we adopt sensible controls on weapons? Whether they would have prevented this tragedy or not, they will surely save uncountable numbers of lives.

I'd also like to share the statement released by UUA President Peter Morales:

I am shocked and profoundly saddened by the news of the massacre at a school in Newtown, Connecticut. My deepest condolences go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives today. I know of nothing more tragic than a young life cut short by violence. This is a time for embracing one another and helping each other find strength and solace.

This is just the latest horrific act of gun violence targeting innocent lives. Whether it's the mall shooting in Oregon or the mass murders in Aurora, Colorado or the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson, Arizona or the Columbine school killings, these instances of violence continue to erupt in America. It is an additional tragedy that today's killings occurred in an elementary school where our youngest and most vulnerable spend their day. All Americans must reflect humbly and work to change the conditions that allow such violence to take place.

We must rededicate ourselves to creating a society where differences are resolved without violence, where the mentally unstable do not have ready access to lethal force, where violence is not glorified, and where we can live, love, and work in safe places. Our task as a religious people committed to compassion and to peace is to show a better way.

When an organization has a huge budget, it can afford to waste a few dollars here and there without worrying that that profligacy will have a substantial impact on its mission. For an organization of UUSC's size, however, every penny counts.

That's why we're so proud we spend 87 cents of every dollar on programs. And it's why we take the three themes of of our 2012 Annual Report so seriously.

First, engagement. We're eager to use the people power at our disposal to optimize our effectiveness. Our members, most of whom are associated with Unitarian Universalist congregations, are natural born activists. They're itching to get their hands dirty, be it on their computer keyboards taking online actions or by building an eco-village in Haiti. UUSC is committed to helping our members do justice because a modest investment in activism can bring enormous dividends to everyone.

Second, innovation. Wherever we go in the world, we ask ourselves, "Who's been forgotten and who is doing the most creative, groundbreaking work to transform and empower those forgotten populations?" By finding the most innovative, entrepreneurial approaches to problems and crises, we accomplish several things at once: we support the risk takers, those on the cutting edge, who governments or more traditional agencies may have overlooked or shunned; we encourage new solutions to old quandaries; we engage with communities, often of women or ethnic minorities, too often marginalized in their societies; and we do all this at a modest cost.

But how do we know whether what we, our activists, and our partners are doing is truly making a difference, accomplishing our objectives? That brings us to our third theme, impact. Over the past year UUSC has begun a groundbreaking process of establishing measurements of project success and accountability, doing an honest assessment of impact, and learning from our achievements and perhaps even more often from when we fall short of our goals. It's not always easy to measure social change. Not everything we do is by any means quantifiable. But we're experimenting with different approaches to measuring impact because we know that at the end of the day the only thing that really counts is how many lives we've actually changed.

You'll find in our annual report many examples of our engagement with activists, our commitment to innovation, and our determination to make an identifiable impact on the world. You'll also find the voices and names of many of those who make our work possible; who know that UUSC is smart, nimble, and relentless; who want to see the cause of justice flourish; and who are convinced that UUSC is one of best means to make it so.

UUSC — there's no better investment.

To all of you who have made that investment, be it in time, energy, or money, our warmest, deepest thanks. Happy reading!

William F. Schulz
President and CEO

Chuck Spence
Chair, Board of Trustees

The primary elections have long since ended; the presidential debates have heightened voter interest; and the most expensive advertising blitz in world history has dulled our senses. Many of us are happy to see this almost two-year-long election season come to an end. Now is the time for every U.S. citizen to exercise his or her most precious right in a democratic society — the right to vote!

All of the partisan pageantry comes down to a dramatic finale on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. On Election Day, we express our values in a direct and public manner. We get to practice the great privilege and responsibility of voting. There are many reasons for U.S. citizens to exercise the right to vote, and it is always disconcerting to learn that the turnout of eligible voters in our country is most often the lowest of all the advanced democracies in the world.

In the United States, the right for all citizens to vote was not provided by law for nearly 200 years, and in many states today, thanks to new ID requirements, there are still barriers that discourage full participation. The original U.S. Constitution essentially provided voting rights for white, adult males, and the concept of universal suffrage was not written into law until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The history of electoral politics is rife with instances of exclusion and marginalization, and this is why it is the moral imperative of all U.S. citizens — regardless of race, religion, or creed — who are above the age of 18 and eligible to vote, to do so.

This is one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history. In fact, one candidate may win the popular vote and the other the Electoral College vote, the latter of which actually determines the next president. This is what happened in 2000 when former Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote nationally but Gorge W. Bush won the Electoral College vote that was ultimately confirmed by a controversial decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a nonprofit human rights organization, UUSC promotes the right to vote and other democratic processes not only in the United States but in such faraway places as Egypt, Ecuador, Kenya, South Africa, and Myanmar.

Few of our members and supporters can travel to distant countries to help promote human rights. But on Election Day in the United States, virtually all of our more than 40,000 members can be social and political activists by reminding their friends and neighbors that their vote is important in deciding the future course of history in their hometowns, states, and country.

In addition to the presidency, there are elections in every state for all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and in 33 states for the U.S. Senate. Additionally, there are important state and local elections, as well as ballot initiatives in virtually every state, including opportunities in four states to vote on marriage equality. For more information and details about the November 6, 2012, elections in your state and municipality, visit nonprofitvote.org.

As a faith-based organization, we are grounded in the principles of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) denomination, including the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. In the twentieth century, UUs were in the forefront of campaigns to extend and ensure the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race, gender, class, and other arbitrary identity barriers. During the height of the civil rights movements of the 1960s, UUs were on the front lines of the voting rights movement in Alabama, Mississippi, and other southern states.

On this Election Day, our legacy is in our hands and our moral compass can help determine our future. Far away from the cacophony of the political season, as we walk into the quiet reflection of the voting booth, we can ask ourselves, "What do I stand for? What is the world that I want to see? Who will help us achieve this vision?"

The following post, "A Solution for Saleh," by UUSC President William F. Schulz, was published in the Huffington Post on December 30, 2011.

The recent decision of the U.S. government to admit the embattled President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to the country for medical treatment presents a classic human rights conundrum. Though a friend of Saddam Hussein and conciliatory toward Iran, Saleh has been an ally of the United States against al Qaeda. But according to human rights groups, he and his security forces have been responsible for hundreds of deaths since the Yemeni opposition took to the streets last spring to demand his ouster. By rights, his opponents claim, Saleh should be brought to trial, not provided top-notch medical care and, presumably, a comfortable retirement. At the same time, there is much to be said for removing him from the scene in Yemen — something Saleh has repeatedly agreed to and then reneged upon — and letting Yemen get on with its future, however fraught it may be.

If we lived in an ideal world, all those who are alleged to have committed crimes of whatever stripe would be brought before a bar of justice and, if convicted, sentenced. But just as prosecutors sometimes decide to plea-bargain a case or even not to prosecute an obviously guilty party because of extenuating circumstances such as an overriding state interest, so nations often have to decide whether it makes sense to offer a human rights offender safe haven in exchange for a chance at peace. The most recent dramatic example of that dilemma presented itself, at least theoretically, in the case of Muammar Qaddafi. Had Qaddafi been willing to flee Libya early in the conflict, thus no doubt saving scores of lives, a reasonable argument could have been made that offering him immunity might have been the better option than insisting upon justice, despite his decades of human rights violations.

One solution to this quandary is to establish a reliable system of international accountability. Were the International Criminal Court (ICC) the universally recognized arbiter of the guilt or innocence of the world's tyrants, supported by all nations, its indictments enforced, human rights offenders would know that the odds of their finding a country willing to host them and hence of their escaping punishment for their crimes were minimal. But of course major powers, including the United States, are not parties to the ICC; even some of its member states refuse to honor its indictments; and the Court has not yet succeeded in convicting anyone.

In the absence of consistent enforcement of international law, therefore, the burden of holding human rights violators to account often falls to individual victims of those crimes. Fortunately, in the United States, we have not only statutes (the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act) that allow for civil suits against alleged perpetrators but also an organization, the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), founded in 1998, that facilitates such litigation. CJA and its clients have successfully won judgments against wrong-doers from China to Haiti, El Salvador to Peru.

So one option with regard to Saleh, following his admittance to the US, may be to bring civil suit against him on behalf of some of those he has harmed. On February 21, 2012, when the transfer of power in Yemen is finalized, Saleh will no longer be a head of state and hence protected by sovereign immunity. At that point legal action becomes at least theoretically tenable. Of course, the US may have made guarantees of immunity to Saleh and may seek to intervene to stop such a suit but that would put the government in the uncomfortable position of defending an alleged human rights criminal. If the Administration is intent on admitting Saleh and, for whatever reasons, unwilling to return him to Yemen for trial, let it at least refuse to shield him from civil suits, thereby preserving at least one clean hand in the dirty business of dealing with despots.

The sudden death of North Korea's Kim Jong-il presents the world with a new conundrum regarding the most secretive nation on the globe: will Kim's son, Kim Jong-un, in his 20s, be able to hold onto power and perpetuate the repressive regimes of his father and grandfather or will some combination of circumstances or new leadership present an opportunity for a ratcheting down of hostilities and tension? In the short run, North Korea's anxiety about the transition is likely to be accompanied by even more belligerent talk, if not actions, as the younger Kim tries to consolidate his power and burnish his credentials as a strongman. But, as we are seeing right now in Myanmar, even the most authoritarian societies can sometimes modify their ways.

UUSC has not been active on the Korean Peninsula since the early 1950s when our predecessor organization was instrumental in introducing social-work education there. But what our work around the world for more than 70 years has taught us is two things: First, that the existence of repressive regimes anywhere reinforces the need to redouble our work for justice and human rights wherever we have an opening to do that. That is why we have been so active in Myanmar, for example, creating a revolving-loan fund to help women and communities at large develop sustainable livelihoods. And second, that those opportunities for change can arise in the most unexpected places.

I'm not predicting that North Korea will be one of them. But I am assuring you that whenever opportunities present themselves to bring greater openness, justice, and human rights to the world, UUSC will be there. 

What an irony — that the great Czech democrat Vaclav Havel and the great North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-il would die within days of one another. But what a source of hope that UUSC exists to help advance Havel's values — and yours — and to do all we can to see that there are fewer and fewer regimes like Kim Jong-il's spreading their repression across the earth.

We can only do that with your continuing support. Won't you join us then in this season of hope and promise to spread your values wherever the opportunity arises?