[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] UN Panel Finds Two-Tier Society

Tue Mar 25 07:14:53 MDT 2008

by Haider Rizvi

Inter Press Service News Agency (March 11 2008)

The United States government is drawing fire from international legal
experts for its treatment of American Indians, Blacks, Latinos and other
racial minorities.

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

Last Friday, after considering the US government's written and oral
testimony, the eighteen- member committee said it has found "stark
racial disparities" in the US 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 US 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 US government
has been found to be falling short of its treaty obligations. In March
2006, The CERD had harshly criticised the US for violating Native
Americans' land rights.

Taking note of racial discrimination against indigenous communities, the
Committee said it wants the US 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 US to apply
the UN 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 US 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 thirteen- page ruling, the UN 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 US to guarantee "enemy combatants"
judicial review.

The panel said the US 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 US 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 UN is telling the US 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 UN panel for rejecting the US
government's claim that more black children get life without parole
because they commit more crimes and held that the UN 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 US
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 US exploitation
of their sacred lands. The US 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 US to submit its report on compliance within one year.

"It is important that all Native Peoples within the US 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 US to remedy this situation".

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