Today's Date: March 29, 2024
Chosgo K23: One of the Best Bluetooth Hearing Aids for Seniors   •   Visit Visalia Recognizes Autism Awareness Month in April   •   Re:wild and Colossal Biosciences team up to leverage revolutionary technology to save critically endangered species on the brink   •   Parkland Corporation Announces the Results of the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders   •   Sypher Secures Strategic Partnership with FAIA to Fuel Growth   •   YMCA of the USA Partners With Old Spice To Increase High School Graduation Among Boys And Young Men Of Color Through Mentorship   •   Midea Group releases its first-ever ESG brand story with an unexpected VIP visit highlighting its commitment to sustainability.   •   Anaergia Announces Escrow Closing of Second Tranche of the Strategic Investment   •   National University Receives 2024 Military Friendly® Gold Designation   •   Empire State Realty Trust Receives WELL Health-Safety Leadership Award; Becomes Among the First Commercial Office and Multifamil   •   Make-A-Wish and celebrity wish granters announce goal to recruit 1 million people to become "WishMakers"   •   Suffolk Kicks off 2024 “Build With Us @ Suffolk” Program in Boston for Trade Partners, Opening Doors for Minority-,   •   Coachella Concerned That People Have Sex, Says AHF   •   Fosun Management on 2023 Annual Results: Focusing on Core Industries with Established Advantages   •   Amerex Group Unveils Red Carter Swimwear's Revitalized Collection   •   Carnegie Learning Named 2024 SIIA CODiE Award Finalist for Best Educational Game and Best AI Implementation in Ed Tech   •   Anaergia Announces Delay in the Filing of Its Audited Financial Statements and Related Disclosures   •   Jamieson Wellness Publishes Inaugural Sustainability Impact Report   •   VIRGIN HOTELS CHAMPIONS INCLUSIVE TRAVEL FOR NEURODIVERSE TRAVELERS   •   Equalpride Partners with TransLash Media for Trans Day of Visibility, Amplifying Voices of Black Trans Femmes in the Arts
Bookmark and Share

Group Calls For Action On Human Rights

 New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has just issued a report  on the formal adoption of the United States’ Report at the United Nations Human Rights Council Session in Geneva, which brought the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United States to a close. As part of the review process, CCR authored or contributed to five NGO reports on the human rights failures and abuses of the United States, on issues ranging from racial profiling to the lack of accountability following extrajudicial killings and torture committed by private military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“While the U.S. government’s formal engagement with the international human rights regime is a critical step forward from previous administrations,” CCR stated in its report, “the response offered in March 2011 presents a distorted and incomplete accounting of the U.S. human rights record, either omitting or glossing over many critical human rights violations or concerns, and demonstrates that the Obama administration is unwilling to meaningfully embrace a human rights framework.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights report continued, “CCR urges the Obama administration to move from rhetoric to action, and to take concrete steps towards complying with its full international human rights obligations. In particular, the U.S. is failing to meet its obligations regarding accountability for serious international law violations, the closure of Guantánamo, ending unlawful targeted killings, isolating political activists and Muslims in prisons, and ending the practice of racial profiling by local law enforcement.”
 
“Contrary to assertions by the U.S. that it supports the ‘vigorous investigation and prosecution of any serious violations of international law,’ the United States has utterly failed to seek or promote accountability for the widespread human rights violations, including torture, committed by high-level U.S. officials, particularly in U.S.-run detention centers including at Guantánamo, in Iraq and at ‘black sites’ across the globe,” said CCR Senior Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher. “The U.S. has further allowed serious international law violations by private military contractors to go unpunished and has not taken the steps necessary to ensure redress for victims of human rights violations, whether committed by U.S. officials or by transnational corporations.”

“While the U.S. is being praised for its engagement with the UPR process, it is quietly continuing to operate experimental prison units designed to isolate Muslim prisoners and political prisoners,” said CCR Education and Outreach Associate Nahal Zamani. “Further, while the government speaks of the unconstitutionality of racial profiling – though neglecting to mention that  the New York Police Department also continues to stop-and-frisk Black and Latino New Yorkers at disproportionately higher rates and without legitimate cause – it continues to implement programs like Secure Communities, despite serious apprehension shared by affected communities, law enforcement agencies and local legislators, and legitimate criticism by leading human rights experts and bodies of this program that forces local law enforcement to do the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

The United States’ compliance with its international human rights obligations – as required under the U.S. Constitution – under the Convention Against Torture, the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other human rights treaties to which the United States is a party, was reviewed for the first time in November 2010 as part of the Universal Periodic Review process, under which 47 other U.N. member states were appointed to review the United States. The peer review process was established to evaluate the compliance of all 192 U.N. member states with their human rights obligations and commitments, and to identify progress, shortcomings and areas for improvement. Countries are reviewed every four years.


To read the full text of the Center for Constitutional Rights report as well as a selection of the reports submitted to the UN by CCR and other organizations: CLICK HERE

 
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.


STORY TAGS: General, Black News, African American News, Latino News, Hispanic News, Minority News, Civil Rights, Discrimination, Racism, Diversity, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality



Back to top
| Back to home page
Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News