COEUR d'ALENE - After 65 years, the United States and other countries still have work to do to honor the intent of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, said Ken Faunce, a professor of history at both the University of Idaho and Washington State University.

The document was adopted Dec. 10, 1948, by the United Nations General Assembly.

"Right now in the United States, there are 250,000 estimated slaves living and working," he said Tuesday at North Idaho College in the student union building. That number includes domestic servitude and sex slaves, he said.

"The United Nations estimates, and the U.S. Department of Justice as well estimates, that anywhere between 15,000 and 17,000 new slaves are brought into the United States every year," Faunce said.

He said drone use and torture also leave the U.S. in violation of the declaration.

"When we talk about human rights, many parts of the world don't take us seriously or credibly because of our own actions and history," he said.

Domestically, he said, the election of the first black U.S. president brought "the racists out of the woodwork like crazy."

He said there are more hate crimes in recent years compared with previous years.

Though not crimes, he also pointed to the racist responses that surfaced after Nina Davuluri, an Indian-American, took the recent Miss America title. He said racist reactions that followed when a Mexican-American boy sang the national anthem at Game 3 of the NBA finals were nothing to be proud of either.

"So, we've got a long ways to come," he said.

Nationally, neo-Nazis and skinheads are declining in number, he said.

"They've just gotten better at infiltrating things as they go along, so we still have to be careful," he said.

Worldwide, fundamental human rights remain under attack, via prisoner abuse, slavery, child soldiers, anti-gay legislation and restrictions on free speech, he said.

The declaration is recognized worldwide as a contract between governments and their people. It touts the necessity for equal justice, opportunity and dignity, among other rights, and is the most translated document in the world, he said.

It's crucial that "every individual, every community, every neighborhood promotes this declaration of human rights and pushes it forward," Faunce said. "That's where the real power of this document is, and that's where it will have real meaning."

It's not a treaty, however, so it doesn't directly create legal obligations for countries.

"It is an expression of the fundamental values which are shared by all members of the international community," Faunce said. It has influenced the development of international human rights law.

He spoke on the document's 65th anniversary as a guest of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, the Human Rights Education Institute and the NIC Diversity Events Committee. About 30 people attended the speech.

Faunce is chairman of the city of Moscow's human rights commission and chair of the Northwest Coalition for Human Rights board of directors. He holds a doctorate in history and historical archaeology from the University of Idaho.