CERD Issues Concluding Observations Regarding U.S. Report
Thursday, March 13, 2008
On February 21st and 22nd, 2008, representatives from the U.S. government attended the 72nd Session Meetings of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for a hearing on their most recent report to CERD. As a State party to the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the United States is obligated to file a report to the Committee every two years, detailing its compliance with the Convention. On March 5, 2008, the Committee adopted Concluding Observations relating to the U.S. government’s fourth, fifth and sixth periodic reports. The Committee’s observations were based on the U.S. government’s report, information obtained from their hearing, and various “shadow” reports that were filed by NGOs.
After highlighting a handful of positive aspects that it found with U.S. compliance to the Convention (for example, the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act and the new National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities for Ethnic and Racial Minority Populations,) the Committee details its concerns with the U.S. government’s performance, and outlines recommended actions that could be taken in order to address them. The concerns of the Committee include an insufficient definition of “racial discrimination” given by the U.S. government that does not fully align itself with the definition given in the Convention; the lack of an independent national human rights institution; the alleged increase in racial profiling since 9/11 of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians; de facto segregation in schools; racial disparities within various aspects of the criminal justice system; the treatment of “enemy combatants;” and the alleged continued racial disparities present as a result of Hurricane Katrina, among others. The Committee closes its Concluding Observations with a list of statistics, information and changes that it would like to see implemented and detailed in the U.S. government’s next periodic report, due in November of 2011.
Jim Kelly is the President of Solidarity Center for Law and Justice, P.C., a public interest civil and human rights law firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. The opinions expressed herein are his own.
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