[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] Fwd: UN Report Hits US Racism

Tue Mar 18 01:17:41 CDT 2008

Enormously interesting and significant, Belden. Must say it's about time something like this happened, and I hope it gets an enormous amount of publicity and that there's a way for the UN to followthrough on their findings. Of course the US government's reaction well may be to un-ratify the treaty... not that that would make any difference if the panel has any real authority.
   --Jenifer

Belden Fields <a-fields at uiuc.edu> wrote:

  Begin forwarded message:

    From: moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG
  Date: March 12, 2008 8:41:19 PM CDT
  To: PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG
  Subject: UN Report Hits US Racism
  Reply-To: moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG

  UN Report Hits US Racism 

  RIGHTS-US: U.N. Panel Finds Two-Tier Society 

  By Haider Rizvi
  http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41556

  UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11 (IPS) - The United States
  government is drawing fire from international legal
  experts for its treatment of American Indians, Blacks,
  Latinos and other racial minorities.

  The U.S. is failing to meet international standards on
  racial equality, according to the U.N. Committee on the
  Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) based in
  Geneva, Switzerland.

  Last Friday, after considering the U.S. government's
  written and oral testimony, the 18- member committee
  said it has found "stark racial disparities" in the
  U.S. institutions, including its criminal justice
  system.

  The CERD is responsible for monitoring global
  compliance with the 1969 Convention on the Elimination
  of Racial Discrimination, an international treaty that
  has been ratified by the United States.

  In concluding the CERD report on the U.S. record, the
  panel of experts called for the George W. Bush
  administration to take effective actions to end racist
  practices against minorities in the areas of criminal
  justice, housing, healthcare and education.

  This is the second time in less than two years that the
  U.S. government has been found to be falling short of
  its treaty obligations. In March 2006, The CERD had
  harshly criticised the U.S. for violating Native
  Americans' land rights.

  Taking note of racial discrimination against indigenous
  communities, the Committee said it wants the U.S. to
  provide information about what it has done to promote
  the culture and traditions of American Indian, Alaska
  Native and indigenous Hawaiian peoples. It also urged
  the U.S. to apply the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of
  Indigenous Peoples.

  The CERD also voiced strong concerns regarding
  environmental racism and the environmental degradation
  of indigenous areas of spiritual and cultural
  significance, without regard to whether they are on
  "recognised" reservation lands.

  The Committee recommended to the U.S. that it consult
  with indigenous representatives, "chosen in accordance
  with their own procedures -- to ensure that activities
  carried out in areas of spiritual and cultural
  significance do not have a negative impact on the
  enjoyment of their rights under the Convention".

  In its 13-page ruling, the U.N. body also raised
  serious questions about the death penalty and in the
  sentencing of minors to life without parole, which it
  linked to racial disparities between whites and blacks.

  In their testimony, Bush administration officials held
  that the treaty obligations do not apply to laws or
  practices that are race-neutral on their face but
  discriminatory in effect. The Committee outright
  rejected that claim, noting that the treaty prohibits
  racial discrimination in all forms, including practices
  and legislation that may not be discriminatory in
  purpose, but in effect.

  The CERD panel also objected to the indefinite
  detention of non-citizens at Guantanamo prison and
  urged the U.S. to guarantee "enemy combatants" judicial
  review.

  The panel said the U.S. needs to implement training
  programmes for law enforcement officials, teachers and
  social workers in order to raise their awareness about
  the treaty and the obligations the U.S. is required to
  uphold as a signatory.

  Human rights defenders who watched the CERD proceeding
  closely said they were pleased with its observations
  and recommendations.

  "The U.N. is telling the U.S. that it needs to deal
  with an ugly aspect of its criminal justice system,"
  said Alison Parker of Human Rights Watch, which has
  been monitoring discriminatory practices in the United
  States for years.

  In a statement, Parker hailed the U.N. panel for
  rejecting the U.S. government's claim that more black
  children get life without parole because they commit
  more crimes and held that the U.N. criticism of the
  justice system was fair.

  "Once again, the Bush administration has been told by a
  major human rights body that it is not above the law,"
  said Parker in of the indefinite detention of terrorism
  suspects at Guantanamo prison.

  Other rights activists also held similar views about
  the outcome of the CERD hearings in Geneva.

  "[It has] exposed to the world the extent to which
  racial discrimination has been normalised and
  effectively made permissible in many areas of American
  life," said Ajamu Baraka of the Human Rights Network,
  an umbrella group representing more than 250 rights
  advocacy organisations.

  As part of its recommendations, the Committee has asked
  the U.S. government to consider the establishment of an
  independent human rights body that could help eliminate
  widespread racial disparities.

  Lenny Foster, Dine (Navajo) and representative of the
  Native America Prisoners Rights Coalition, was a member
  of the indigenous delegation to the CERD. He observed
  during the examination that the United States was "in
  denial".

  "Spiritual wellness and spiritual healing is paramount
  to the very survival of the indigenous nations," he
  said. "There are efforts to prohibit and impede the
  spiritual access. Corporations cannot be allowed to
  prohibit access and to destroy and pollute and
  desecrate the sacred lands."

  Bill Larsen of the Western Shoshone Defence Project
  delegation also testified before the Committee, making
  a strong case concerning environmental racism and the
  deadly pollution caused by mining on their ancestral
  lands.

  In March 2006, the Western Shoshone leaders had
  received a favourable response from the Committee to
  its complaint about the U.S. exploitation of their
  sacred lands. The U.S. is obligated "to freeze, desist
  and stop further harmful activities on their lands",
  but failed to take any action.

  Indigenous leaders said they welcomed the Committee's
  decision to ask the U.S. to submit its report on
  compliance within one.year.

  "It is important that all Native Peoples within the
  U.S. know that they have rights that are recognized by
  international law even if the United States refuses to
  recognise them or act upon them," said Alberto
  Saldamando, one of the indigenous delegates attending
  the Geneva meeting.

  "Now it is not just us," he continued, "but the
  international community that has recognised that
  indigenous peoples within the United States are subject
  to racism on many levels and has called for effective
  steps by the U.S. to remedy this situation."

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