NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–March 7, 2011. The American Civil Liberties Union joined a coalition of civil and human rights groups in sending a letter today to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, asking the committee to urge the United States government to comply with its obligations under international human rights laws and treaties regarding racial discrimination.
While the committee and other U.N. human rights experts have provided specific and detailed recommendations over the last three years advising the U.S. government of the need to address ongoing issues of racial discrimination through domestic implementation of human rights obligations, including the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the Obama administration has yet to take concrete measures to fully implement the ICERD and other related human rights obligations. The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is the principle global body monitoring countries compliance with ICERD, which the U.S. ratified in 1994.
The letter asked the committee to urge the U.S. government to adopt a national plan of action for ICERD implementation, with full and meaningful consultation with civil society and affected communities and in collaboration with local and state governments.
According to the letter, “People of African descent in the United States continue to face intentional, structural, and de facto forms of discrimination which manifest in unequal access to quality education, housing, health services, employment, electoral disfranchisement and discrimination in the criminal justice system, among many other issues.”
The full text of the letter is available online at: www.aclu.org/human-rights-racial-justice/coalition-letter-cerd-committee
Groups signing the letter are:
American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International USA
Asian American Justice Center
Center for Constitutional Rights
Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
Human Rights at Home Campaign
Human Rights Watch
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights
National Coalition-Black Women’s Roundtable
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Rights Working Group
Urban Justice Center
U.S. Human Rights Network
World Organization for Human Rights USA
Source: aclu.org
