The defense of human rights.

• Author: Angones, Francisco R.
• Position: Florida - President's page

Americans are an open, friendly, and courageous people. Among their most prized characteristics is a sense of fairness. This fairness is enshrined in our Constitution and in our Bill of Rights, and I believe it typifies the sentiments of most law students and the majority of lawyers. The commitment to fairness is the foundation for the rights that all of us as Americans enjoy.

Other countries may have constitutions or similar legal documents that assure the rights of its citizens, but if these rights are not fostered and protected, they are worthless. As Americans, we share the beliefs stated in our Constitution, and understand and desire that they be implemented as part of our daily life. Successive generations born in our country, and those reaching it in search of basic freedoms, make these values their own, and by so doing guarantee the continued existence of the concepts and practices of freedom and equality in our nation.

A few months ago, I was reading about Second Lieutenant Emily J. T. Perez, West Point class of 2005. She exemplifies these ideals of freedom and equality. Lt. Perez was the highest-ranking Black and Hispanic female cadet in the Academy's history, as well as a track athlete who helped set a team relay record at West Point. Her loyalty to our common values as a nation went from theory to reality. On September 12, 2006, she became the first female West Point graduate to be killed in Iraq. She and the many other servicemen and servicewomen who represent us as members of our armed forces, many of them from Florida, live out day to day the devotion to our country and to its principles of liberty and fairness.

The Florida Bar and its members are at the forefront in the defense of human rights. My agenda for this year will focus on these rights; this page will give me the opportunity to discuss them and their very broad implications at different levels, since human rights issues go beyond state and national boundaries to encompass the whole world.

Human rights derive from the philosophical ideal of natural rights, the innate rights of individuals that are present even if there is no legal system in place to protect them. Historically our human rights legislation dates back to the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, and our own Bill of Rights restates and...