[Peace] Fwd: UN Report Hits US Racism

[Belden Fields]

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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