>>
>> http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41556
>> <http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41556>
>>
>> *RIGHTS-US:
>> U.N. Panel Finds Two-Tier Society /
>>
>> /Haider Rizvi*
>>
>> *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, Diné (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."
>>
>> (END/2008)
>> __._,_.___
>>
>> .
>>
>> __,_._,___
>
> --
>
>
> You see things and ask, "Why?" But I dream things that never were and ask, "Why not?"
> -George Bernard Shaw
>
>

--
Silvia Domínguez
Sociology and Human Services
Northeastern University
Department of Sociology
525 Holmes Hall
Boston, MA 02115
617-373-4989
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http://sociologistswithoutborders.org/



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