(Washington, DC, February 7, 2008) – The United States has failed to comply with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
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The convention against racial discrimination was the first major human rights treaty signed by the US. Unfortunately, more than 42 years later, the US has failed to uphold its treaty obligations in several important respects.
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“The convention against racial discrimination was the first major human rights treaty signed by the US,” said Alison Parker, deputy director of the US program at Human Rights Watch and the author of the report. “Unfortunately, more than 42 years later, the US has failed to uphold its treaty obligations in several important respects.”
The report’s findings include:
- In some US states, African-American youth arrested for murder are at least three times more likely than white youth arrested for murder to receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
African-American and Native American students in US public schools receive corporal punishment at rates significantly higher than white students.
Haitian refugees seeking admission to the United States are, as a matter of explicit government policy, treated less favorably than are Cuban refugees.
The non-citizens detained by the US military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are denied the right to judicial review of their detention and to fair trial procedures, rights enjoyed by US citizens.
