UN to review alleged US human rights abuses after 465 page report by US nonprofits

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday July 5, 2006

In an exclusive announcement to RAW STORY, a coalition of 142 U.S.-based non-profits and organizations and 32 individuals say they have filed what they believe is the most comprehensive review of human rights violations in the United States ever produced.

The 465-page "shadow report" was assembled for the United Nation's Human Rights Committee as part of its review of U.S. human rights abuses later this month, a routine review that occurs every four years for countries that have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

RAW STORY has received a copy of the report and hopes to have a detailed followup story Thursday.

According to the coalition, the ICCPR is one of two treaties that together are the equivalent to an international "Bill of Rights." The U.S. signed and ratified the treaty in 1992, but the U.S. review - its second - is more than seven years late due to the State Department's delay in submitting its own official report.

Last year, the U.N. warned that it would commence reviewing the U.S. without the official report if it were delayed any longer. The State Department submitted its official report on October 21, 2005.

"The U.S. prides itself on being an advocate for human rights," said Ajamu Baraka of U.S. Human Rights Network in the release. "Unfortunately, this administration's slow response in submitting our own human rights record is yet another example of how they 'talk the talk' but refuse to 'walk the walk.' The United States' reluctance to participate in this process sets a poor example for the rest of the world to follow."

The "shadow report" is a rebuttal to the official U.S. report. Its claims include:

• Immigration: The physical abuse and poor detention conditions many non-citizens face when they attempt to enter the U.S., the failure of U.S. immigration law to adequately protect refugees, asylum seekers and immigrant families and respect their right to due process, and discrimination against migrant workers;
• Hurricane Katrina: The racially discriminatory evacuation of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and discriminatory policies in the hurricane's aftermath that have restricted residents' right to vote, ability to participate in the rebuilding process and access to basic necessities;
• Domestic Use of Torture: The failure of the government to prosecute Jon Burge, a Chicago police officer implicated in a torture scandal that advocates have labeled the "Abu Ghraib in the United States," despite several federal investigations that conclusively found that the city's police department routinely tortured suspects;
• Juvenile Justice: The sentencing of youth and teens to life in prison without the possibility of parole; and
• Prison conditions within the United States, such as shackling women prisoners during childbirth, limitations on prisoners' access to courts, lack of access to adequate health care, rape and discrimination against minorities that violate international human rights standards.

More from the groups' release follows.

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In the "shadow report," the groups underscore the common theme that binds these human rights violations together: an unstated policy of "U.S. exceptionalism." Before ratifying the treaty, Congress attached various "reservations, understandings and declarations," limiting the application of the treaty within the U.S. The coalition members point to the U.S. claimed limitations on the treaty, the State Department's reluctance to participate in the U.N. process, and the ongoing human rights violations in the United States as a systemic pattern of ignoring international human rights obligations.

"The world will be watching this hearing in Geneva. The idea that international laws don't apply to the United States and that we won't honor the treaties we sign is a dangerous position for us to take," said Baraka. "We hope that this process will help federal officials understand that we cannot continue to claim that we are an exception to the rules. We should take this opportunity to fully address our human rights violations and to comply with the ICCPR."

On July 10, members of the coalition, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Friends Service Committee, Global Rights, Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the International Women's Rights Action Watch, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Center for Reproductive Rights and Justice Now, among others, will present findings from the report to the committee in Geneva. On July 17-18, representatives of the State Department and other federal agencies are expected to answer questions from the committee.

Last May after hearings held by the U.N.'s Committee Against Torture -- an international review process similar to the human rights hearing that will be held in July -- the Committee Against Torture demanded that the U.S. close the prison at Guantanamo.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee is expected to release its findings on July 28, 2006.