The Obama administration recently submitted its first report on its own human rights record to the United Nations Human Rights Council, becoming the first US administration to do so—the Bush administration declined to join the council. The report marked  the first time the US government has admitted to its own failings on human rights, particularly in the area of economic and social rights.

Barbara Crossette, the UN reporter for The Nation, covered the story for the magazine, and she joins us in studio along with Anja Rudiger of the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative to discuss the report, the next steps and what all this means for the state of human rights in this country. Are we moving forward? How far do we have to go? And will we be able to acknowledge social and economic rights as fundamental human rights?

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