Human Rights at Home Blog

U.S. Will Soon be Reviewed by the UN Committee Against Torture

In September of 2021, the United States submitted its sixth periodic report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, the treaty body which monitors implementation and compliance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

There has already been some pushback by human rights groups against the sixth periodic report submitted by the U.S. in 2021. Human Rights Watch published an joint letter to the Biden Administration from civil and human rights organizations in December 2021, asserting that the sixth periodic report failed to report accurately on policies and practices that do not comply with or contradict the Convention.  The letter argues that the report: (1) obscures U.S. border policies that violate the Convention; (2) ignores U.S. executive actions that are inconsistent with requirements in the Convention (specifically in reference to Guantanamo Bay and the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program); and (3) obscures the lack of accountability for law enforcement abuses.

The Committee Against Torture holds three sessions per year in April-May, July-August, and November-December. It is likely that the U.S. review will be scheduled soon and will be held in 2023.  The full content of the report can be found here. The HRW letter can be found here.

Event 9/29: RFK Human Rights Book Club - America on Fire

Join Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR) online Thursday, September 29, 2022, from 4-5 pm ET / 1-2 pm PT for the RFKHR Board and Leadership Council Book Club featuring 2022 RFK Book Awards Laureate Elizabeth Hinton, her latest work - America on Fire and RFKHR Board Member Elisa Massimino, former long-time executive director of Human Rights First.

America on Fire presents a new framework for understanding our nation’s broken criminal legal system, tracing the untold history of police violence and Black rebellion since the 1960s. It also warns readers that rebellions—defined as explosions of collective resistance to an unequal and violent order—are most likely to continue if the systems of inequality and injustice that have remained since the era of Jim Crow are not restructured.

Speakers:

• Elizabeth K. Hinton, Associate Professor, Department of History and Department of African American Studies, Yale University; Professor of Law, Yale Law School

• Elisa Massimino, Visiting Professor of Law and Executive Director, Human Rights Institute, Georgetown University; Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

The discussion is open to everyone and can be viewed across our social media platforms. This event is open to everyone and can be accessed via our Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube accounts and our website. You can learn more and register for the event here.

U.S. Releases Supplemental Information after CERD Review

The U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva has put together a website and released a video recording of the civil society consultation that took place on August 10, 2022, the day before the formal presentation of the U.S. report to CERD.  The Biden-Harris Administration has also shared a supplemental report it submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination after the U.S. review.

This display of transparency comes in response to a letter signed by 48 representatives of civil society organizations and Indigenous Peoples to the Biden Harris Administration requesting such measures as to (1) ensure that all relevant parties – namely, government officials who will be responsible for implementation and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations who were unable to participate - may see what transpired, (2) allow for greater public education, and (3) exemplify the administration’s transparent engagement with these organizations.

The supplemental report contains statements from the State of California’s Office of the Attorney General, the City of Atlanta, the Executive Office of the President, and several other U.S. government agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Interior, detailing their respective plans for implementing the CERD recommendations.

October 2022 Deadlines: Calls for Inputs by UN Human Rights Mechanisms

The following calls for inputs have been issued by UN Human Rights Mechanisms with deadlines in October 2022 and law professors whose practice, research, and/or scholarship touches on these topics may be interested in submission:

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Call for inputs: High Commissioner’s report on human rights implications of and good practices and key challenges of equitable and universal access to and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Deadline October 3, 2022. Read more.

Working Group on discrimination against women and girls - Call for inputs from the mandate of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls for its upcoming report “Human Security of Women and Girls in the Context of Poverty and Inequality”. Deadline October 3, 2022. Read more.

Human Rights Council Advisory Committee – Call for written inputs: Request for inputs on patterns, policies, and processes leading to incidents of racial discrimination and on advancing racial justice and equality. Deadline October 10, 2022. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities – Call for inputs: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities to the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council.  Deadline October 14, 2022. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment – Call for inputs: Women, Girls and the Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment. Deadline October 14, 2022. Read more.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Call for submissions of written contributions to the expert workshop on possible ways to enhance the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the work of the Human Rights Council. Deadline October 15, 2022. Read more.

This information was compiled from https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input-listing.

New Article: The Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations: A New Means of Addressing Discrimination Against Foreign and Dual Nationals?

Leigh T. Toomey, The Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations: A New Means of Addressing Discrimination Against Foreign and Dual Nationals?, Harvard Human Rights Journal, Vol 35, Spring 2022. Excerpt from introduction included below.

“In February 2021, Canada launched the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations (“Declaration”) in order to enhance international cooperation in deterring the detention of foreign and dual nationals for the purpose of diplomatic coercion, and to address this form of detention whenever and wherever it occurs. The Declaration is the first of its kind in seeking to address the specific challenge of the arbitrary detention of foreign and dual nationals and their use as “bargaining chips in international relations.”

This Commentary considers the new Declaration, arguing that it is a promising initial response to the urgent need for the international community to denounce the detention of individuals because of their status as foreign or dual nationals. To highlight the prevalence of the arbitrary detention of foreign and dual nationals and the urgency of addressing it, this Commentary reviews recent opinions of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (“Working Group”). In all of the opinions reviewed, the Working Group found that foreign and dual nationals had been arbitrarily detained due to discrimination based on their nationality, or because they were not afforded their right to consular assistance. The Working Group has welcomed the Declaration, noting that “[i]ts aims and purposes relate closely to the concerns expressed by the Working Group in the past” and that it stands ready, within the remit of its mandate, to support this initiative and to engage with States that have endorsed it. This Commentary takes a similar approach in welcoming the Declaration, while being mindful that States must take action to implement its principles.”

United Nations Condemns U.S. for Misuse of Chemical Agents, Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons in Response to Reports of St. Louis City Justice Center Jail Conditions

By Lauren E. Bartlett, HRAH Blog Editor, and Anezka Krobot, 2L at St. Louis University School of Law

On Tuesday, August 30, 2022, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination published its Concluding Observations and Recommendations from its August 10-12 review of the United States. The Committee, which is made up of 18 independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, expressed concerns and gave recommendations for how the United States could better implement the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

In its findings, the Committee condemned the misuse of chemical agents, like pepper spray, in U.S. jails and prisons, in addition to the use of solitary confinement. The Committee also recommended that the U.S impose “strict restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the use of chemical agents as pepper spray and ensuring that its use does not have a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities.”

These statements follow submissions of reports of inhumane conditions at the St. Louis City Justice Center jail (CJC), including statements from people who were currently and formerly incarcerated at CJC, advocacy organizations and a shadow report submitted in July 2022 by the MacArthur Justice Center, Saint Louis University School of Law Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic, ArchCity Defenders and Rights Behind Bars. The shadow report highlights the tortuous punishment and inhumane confinement conditions that are used on a daily basis against those detained in the City of St. Louis, 95% of whom are Black. 

A full press statement regarding the Committee’s findings can be found here.

New Article: Let Them Eat Rights: Re-Framing the Food Insecurity Problem Using a Rights-Based Approach

Benedict Sheehy & Ying Chen, Let Them Eat Rights: Re-Framing the Food Insecurity Problem Using a Rights-Based Approach, 43 Mich. J. Int'l L. 631 (August 2022). Abstract below.

Food insecurity is a global issue. Large parts of the global population are unable to feed themselves adequately with hundreds of millions of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition. This problem is recognized widely by governments, industry and civil society and is usually understood using one of three approaches or frames: a basic production problem solved by technology and increased industrialization of agricultural, and an economic problem solved by economic growth and a commercial problem resolved by expanding markets. Much of the discussion and policy advice is based on the premise that hunger is primarily a wealth issue and, that as wealthy countries do not have hunger, the solution is economic development. Using Erving Goffman’s theory of framing, we argue that these frames are inadequate as evidenced by the failure to solve this very basic, but complex problem in both poor and wealthy countries on the one hand nor explain the success of some developing countries on the other. After analyzing the three frames and their limitations, we propose a rights-based frame and explain how rights are an important part of solving the complex problem of hunger. We examine how rights-based approaches have worked by creating three categories based on the status of food rights within the respective constitutional frameworks of those jurisdictions. In each of the three categories, we examine specific jurisdictional frameworks, evidence of performance and evaluate their success. Based on that review, analysis and evaluation, we identify the legal elements of an effective right to food.

Event 9/12: ABA Webinar Tipping the Scales of Justice

On Monday September 12, 2022, at 3:30pm ET, the ABA Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice will present an online free webinar titled "Tipping the Scales of Justice." The webinar is described in detail below.

Anti-fatness is a form of systemic oppression that invades every aspect of U.S. and global culture. Although often thought of as a personal or interpersonal issue, anti-fatness is ingrained in U.S institutions, including the government, the medical establishment, employment and hiring in all types of organizations, education, and legal proceedings of all kinds. Otherwise marginalized individuals and communities–particularly Black and Brown people, disabled people, older people, and LGBTQIA+ people–are disproportionately impacted by anti-fatness, increasing the urgency of addressing this form of bias as a serious social justice concern. Advocates for fat people identify the lack of clearly articulated legal protections against discrimination based on weight, height, or any combination thereof as a major factor in allowing cultural perceptions and misperceptions of fat people to deprive fat people of equitable and just treatment under the law. As legal expert Sondra Solovay points out, “Courts often have the ability to end unnecessary discrimination against fat people, but lack the vision.”

 Our panel of experts discusses how to shift this lack of vision, including the important role legal professionals can play in supporting the passage of Equality at Every Size legislation, the influence and power lawyers have in utilizing existing policies and laws to create fat justice, and the need for an intersectional approach to fighting anti-fatness.

Panelists:

• Elaine K. Lee, Member-at-Large, Board of Directors, National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance; Attorney, Mauriel Kapouytian Woods LLP
• Tigress Osborn, Chair, Board of Directors, National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance
• Brandie Solovay, Director, Fat Legal Advocacy, Rights and Education Project; Legal Director, Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco

Sponsored by the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. To register for this free event, click here.