International Human Rights
Experts Denounce U.S.
Record on Racial and Ethnic Discrimination
March 7, 2008
American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Applauds Recommendations and Demands Immediate
Action
GENEVA — A United Nations (UN) committee today issued a strongly worded critique of the United States' record on racial discrimination and urged the government to make sweeping reforms to policies affecting racial and ethnic minorities, women, and immigrants in this country. The American Civil Liberties Union called on the U.S. government to take vigorous steps to implement the committee's recommendations and fulfill its human rights treaty obligations.
"The message from the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is clear when it comes to the
The CERD committee, which oversees compliance with an international treaty to end racial discrimination that was ratified by the U.S. in 1994, reviewed testimony and research by the ACLU and other human rights groups before issuing its final report. Representatives of the ACLU were in
Among its recommendations, the committee called on the
- Pass the federal
End Racial Profiling Act or similar legislation and combat widespread
ethnic and racial profiling practices by law enforcement, especially
against Arabs, Muslims and South Asians in the wake of the 9/11 attacks;
- Protect
non-citizens from being subjected to torture and abuse by means of transfer
or rendition to foreign countries for torture;
- Adopt and
strengthen the use of affirmative action programs to eliminate
discrimination, and allow school districts to voluntarily promote school
integration;
- Eliminate
systemic inadequacies in criminal defense programs that have a
disproportionate effect on indigent minorities and ensure competent
counsel in all cases;
- Address the
problem of the school-to-prison pipeline — the trend of funneling minority
children into prison;
- Restrict felony
disfranchisement policies and eliminate barriers to post-sentence voting
rights restoration;
- Address the
problem of violence against indigenous, minority and immigrant women,
including migrant workers, and especially domestic workers; and
- Pass the Civil
Rights Act of 2008 or similar legislation, and otherwise ensure the rights
of minority and immigrant workers, including undocumented migrant workers,
to effective protection and remedies when their employers have violated
their human rights.
Also in Geneva today, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamante, presented a report on the injustices faced by migrants and immigrants in the U.S., denouncing immigrant detention policies and facilities that fail to meet international standards and have few protections for the rights of migrant workers.
Bustamante's report also expresses concern about employment and health abuses suffered by migrant workers, specifically pointing to labor issues in post-Katrina
"The
The ACLU is calling on the government to adopt the recommendations made by Bustamante in his report, including:
- Eliminating
mandatory detention of undocumented immigrants and determining whether
non-citizens pose a risk to society on a case-by-case basis;
- Allowing
immigrants in detention the chance to have their custody reviewed before
an immigration judge;
- Creating binding
human rights standards governing the treatment of immigration detainees in
all facilities, including the removal of non-citizen children from
jail-like detention centers;
- Establishing
standards for the mental and medical health needs of migrant women who
have been the victims of mental, physical, or sexual abuse;
- Ending harassment
and racial profiling of migrant workers by local and federal law
enforcement agents; and
- Ensuring health,
safety and labor protections for migrant workers and providing health
benefits for migrant workers injured on the job.
Last year, Bustamante conducted a three-week fact finding mission at the request of the U.S. government, visiting a detention center in Arizona and meeting with migrant communities and government officials in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, New York and Washington D.C. During that time Bustamante was denied entrance to New Jersey's Monmouth County Correctional Institution and Texas's Hutto immigration detention center, a converted prison that currently houses about 150 immigrants, including children and asylum seekers. In 2007, the ACLU filed successful federal lawsuits that resulted in the release of 26 children and greatly improved conditions at the Hutto facility. The
The ACLU's report on the state of racial discrimination in the
The ACLU's statement on the U.N. Special Rapporteur's report on the human rights of migrants is available here:
www.aclu.org/immigrants/gen/34369res20080307.html
More information about the ACLU's advocacy to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants can be found online here:
www.aclu.org/humanrightsofmigrants
Published on American
Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org)
Source URL: http://www.aclu.org/human-rights/international-human-rights-experts-denounce-us-record-racial-and-ethnic-discrimination
The US is
fine with just talking the talk.
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