Monday, March 16, 2015

Keep Marching: From Civil Rights to Civil and Human Rights

Prof. Risa Kaufman's and Prof. JoAnn Kamuf Ward 's students traveled to Alabama last week to participate in events commemorating the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.  The students provide us with their first hand account.

By: Glory Nwaugbala, Dan Pedraza, Ben Setel, and Audrey Son, Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic

As members of Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic, we have spent this academic year working to advance state and local implementation of human rights within the United States. We recently experienced the importance of this work firsthand over the course of a weekend in Alabama.

Many of the United States’ human rights obligations fall within the jurisdiction of state and local governments.  Through the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, we have been working to develop and support state and local implementation of these obligations. As part of that work, we’ve been privileged to work with the Birmingham mayor’s office. We have been particularly excited to work with Birmingham, not only because of that city’s historical importance in the civil rights movement, but also because Birmingham Mayor William Bell has emerged as a champion for human rights, including through his participation on the United States’ official delegation to the CERD last summer.

On Friday, March 6th, 2015, Mayor Bell hosted a dialogue on local human rights concerns in advance of the upcoming review of the United States at the Universal Periodic Review, and in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday (when, as part of the Voting Rights Movement, unarmed demonstrators attempting to peacefully march from Selma to Montgomery were attacked by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge).  

For this event, we helped plan a day of panels on a wide range of issues, including education, immigration, homelessness, and marriage equality. The panelists included state legislators, law enforcement officers, local advocates, community members, and other actors. A representative from the U.S. State Department attended, as well, and noted in his closing comments that “human rights are universal but are experienced locally.” He went on to say that this event was precisely the sort of local engagement that the State Department hoped to cultivate throughout the country. It was encouraging to hear such strong words of support for state and local engagement with human rights from a federal government representative.

 Although the individual panelists may not have shared the same views or experiences, some common ground emerged.  Where each had seen a gap in justice, each has worked to fill it.  Despite the efforts of these individuals and their respective organizations, however, it was clear that more must be done to address critical social justice concerns in Birmingham. The dialogue among the panelists highlighted one of the major themes of the weekend: the promise of human rights in addressing local issues. As one panelist noted, Birmingham must transition from “the cradle of civil rights to the house of human rights.”

Human rights provide a valuable supplement to the traditional civil rights framework. The language of human rights makes clear the intersection and deep connection between economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights. A human rights frame can better capture many contemporary issues, and pave the way for holistic solutions. It can empower individuals by explicitly acknowledging them as rights-holders. And such acknowledgement highlights that government actors have a responsibility to protect, respect and fulfill rights. 

 The following day, March 7th, 2015, marked the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the attempted march from Selma to Montgomery that sparked the passage of the Voting Rights Act. We travelled from Birmingham to Selma to hear President Obama, Congressman John Lewis, and others speak on the legacy of the march. As Congressman Lewis embraced our nation’s first African-American president, sharing a stage in this historic place, we were reminded that although the struggle for rights in the United States has been long and difficult, it is one that has made tremendous strides forward. President Obama's speech served as both a reflection on progress made and as a call to further action. Tens of thousands of people of all ages, races, genders, and sexual orientations gathered in Selma that day to rally around one idea: keep marching. As President Obama reminded us: “the most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’”

Throughout the weekend, we were struck by the way in which human rights themes permeated the discourse from the local level all the way to the President’s speech. While not everyone mentioned “human rights” explicitly, the principles were evident in their words and in their work. Human rights have a role to play in cities, in states, and at the national level, and they provide a roadmap for the achievement of the universal rights of all people.

Hearing those themes reflected in Alabama was particularly powerful. The story of civil rights in Alabama is as inspiring as it is unfinished. Knowing that tremendous progress has been made in the fight for civil rights—both in Alabama and across the United States—we have good reason to be optimistic about the promise of human rights. In order to realize this promise, however, we must keep marching.

March 16, 2015 in JoAnn Kamuf Ward, Race, Risa Kaufman, Teaching | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday, March 13, 2015

New York City Bar Committees Bring Human Rights Home

 Risa Kaufman, Columbia Law School of Law

 

 

 In a strong example of how human rights can advance domestic social justice advocacy efforts, the New York City Bar Association’s Pro Bono and Legal Services and Housing Court Committees issued a joint report last month drawing on human rights as support for pending legislation that would provide for a right to counsel in New York City housing court.

 International law recognizes that legal representation is essential to safeguarding fair, equal, and meaningful access to the legal system, and critical to safeguarding other human rights. The City Bar’s Report details recent recommendations by the UN human rights treaty bodies that the U.S. do more to ensure access to legal representation in cases where basic human needs are stake.  The Report also highlights general statements by UN treaty bodies and UN Special Rapporteurs on the importance of access to legal representation more generally and its impact on other human rights, along with the jurisprudence of other jurisdictions protecting the right to counsel in basic needs cases.

The proposed New York City legislation (four different bills are currently pending) would provide a right to counsel in housing court for low-income tenants in New York City who are facing loss of housing through eviction, ejectment or foreclosure.  The Bar Committees offer support for one of these bills, Intro 0214-2014, with the recommendation that the income eligibility requirement be raised.  It’s heartening to see the organized bar embrace international human rights to strengthen its advocacy on a local issue and mainstream efforts to bring human rights home!

March 13, 2015 in Advocacy, Risa Kaufman | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The U.S.’s 2nd UPR Report: A Conversation Opener

 

Risa E. Kaufman, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute 

 

How does the United States evaluate its own record on human rights?  The answer was revealed when the U.S. submitted its 2nd report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the U.N. Human Rights Council last week.  In the report, the U.S. offers a self-assessment of the progress made and challenges that remain on a host human rights issues addressed during the United States’ first UPR, back in 2010. The report sets the stage for the in-person review, scheduled for May 11 in Geneva, and offers an important jumping off point for the work of U.S. human rights advocates.

The UPR, a "peer review" conducted through the U.N. Human Rights Council, requires that the human rights record of each country belonging to the U.N. be reviewed once every four years. As a "peer review," representatives from every member of the U.N. have an opportunity to ask questions of and make recommendations to the country under review.  The review, which is grounded in the U.N. Charter, the UDHR, human rights instruments to which the country is a party, and any voluntary pledges and commitments made by countries, is based on the national report submitted by the country under review, as well as on a compilation of findings and reports from U.N. human rights treaty bodies, special procedures and other relevant U.N. mechanisms, and a summary of reports submitted by civil society, including community groups and advocacy organizations. The UPR is intended to “promote the universality, interdependence, indivisibility and interrelatedness of all human rights.”

The U.S. underwent its first UPR in 2010.  The first U.S. UPR resulted in 228 recommendations for ways in which the United States can improve upon its human rights record.  The U.S.’s 2nd UPR report responds to the 173 recommendations that the U.S. supported in whole or in part from that first review. In 25 pages, the report touches on issues including state and local implementation of human rights; excessive use of force by law enforcement; racial bias in the criminal justice system; racial discrimination in areas including voting, housing, education and health; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and against persons with disabilities; capital punishment; the rights of indigenous peoples; immigration detention and the rights of migrants; gender equality in the workplace; national security and counterterrorism efforts; access to food, healthcare, education, housing, water and sanitation; and climate change.

Perhaps somewhat predictably, the report provides an overall upbeat assessment of human rights improvements in the United States, including legislative and policy initiatives and accomplishments under the Obama Administration. 

Last fall, I posed the question of whether it is worth the effort for U.S. human rights advocates to engage in advocacy around the U.S.’s 2nd Universal Periodic Review.  (Spoiler alert: the answer is “yes.”).  One of the reasons I offered for the utility of engaging in the UPR is that, unlike the reviews conducted by the human rights treaty bodies, the UPR requires the United States to respond to each of the recommendations resulting from the review, thus committing itself to addressing a number of human rights issues. By offering a self-evaluation of how it is meeting these commitments, the U.S., in its 2nd UPR report, provides an important touchstone for advocates to engage in deeper dialogue with federal, state and local government, with grassroots communities, and with the general public about long-standing and new domestic human rights concerns. 

Between now and May 11, there are several opportunities for U.S. advocates to give due credit to the United States for progress made on human rights issues, offer a more accurate assessment of where progress is lacking, and raise significant concerns that the U.S. report may gloss over or ignore altogether. The U.S. government has invited U.S. civil society to participate in a consultation regarding the report at the U.S. State Department on the morning of Friday, February 20th. Those interested must RSVP by this Friday (February 13th), preferably with a written statement.

And the U.S. Human Rights Network and allied organizations are hosting a series of U.S. civil society consultations and “diplomacy dialogues” in the lead up to the review.  The first is scheduled for the afternoon of February 20th at Howard University in Washington, DC.  Diplomatic representatives have been invited to the session to learn about U.S. human rights concerns directly from advocates, thus providing an opportunity for advocates to encourage UN missions to ask targeted questions of and offer constructive recommendations to the U.S. in May.  Similar events are planned for March 26th at the University of the District of Columbia’s School of Law; March 27th in New York City (place TBD); April 15th at American University’s Washington College of Law; and April 17th at the Roosevelt House in New York.  Information on each of these events will be made available on the U.S. Human Rights Network’s website.

Given the resources necessary to travel to Geneva, most U.S. advocates will not be able to attend the in-person UPR this spring.  But there is a great deal that they can do from home to contribute to the review and to amplify domestic human rights concerns raised in (or omitted from) the U.S. report.  Advocates can join a UPR working group hosted by the USHRN network and participate in the civil society consultations and diplomacy dialogues to offer UN representatives in New York and Washington, D.C. a U.S. advocacy perspective on the U.S.’s 2nd UPR report.  They can encourage state and local officials to hold human rights consultations or hearings on relevant local issues that are addressed in the U.S. report.  And they can leverage the UPR more generally to raise greater public awareness about domestic human rights concerns through social and mainstream media; op eds, blog posts, and twitter campaigns can respond to the U.S. UPR report, or be timed to coincide with the May 11th review.  The U.S.’s 2nd UPR report isn’t the last word on human rights in the U.S.  It’s a starting point for conversation.

February 11, 2015 in Risa Kaufman, Universal Periodic Reviews | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday, January 9, 2015

Update on the SDGs and Human Rights

 

By Risa E. Kaufman, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute

 

Back in October, I wrote about the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, or SGDs, which will replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)adopted in 2000 by the UN to alleviate global poverty.  As I mentioned, expiration of the MDGs in 2015 has generated a healthy discussion within the human rights community about what a more universal and holistic set of goals to eradicate poverty might look like, with some human rights groups developing a human rights “litmus test” for the post-2015 SDGs.  Last month saw an important and promising development on the road to a human rights-based approach to the SDGs.

On December 4, with the state-level negotiations over the final SDGs well underway (the final version of the SDGs is expected in September 2015), the UN Secretary General released a Synthesis Report, “The Road to Dignity by 2030,” which is intended to serve as a road map for the final negotiations.  In it, the Secretary General makes clear that the SDGs are premised on the understanding of universality, thus applicable to both developing and developed countries, including the United States.  In addition, unlike previous preliminary SDG documents, the Synthesis Report makes explicit reference throughout to human rights, clearly articulating the SDGs through a human rights framework and including human rights as a central component of the SDGs.  The Report notes that “the agenda itself mirrors the broader international human rights framework.”  Human rights concepts are implicit throughout the Synthesis Report, as well. The Report calls for the essential participation of civil society, transparency, and the accountability of all actors (including the private sector).  The previous Open Working Group for Sustainable Development Goals Proposal, which was intended as a starting point for the state-level discussions on the SDGs, set forth 17 goals for sustainable development.  The Synthesis Report seeks to maintain these 17 goals, but rearranges and incorporates them into six integrated “essential elements” for achieving the SDGs: dignity, prosperity, justice, partnership, planet and people.

There is still a great deal to be worked out in the final document, including what form an accountability mechanism might take.  The report calls for “strong, inclusive public mechanisms at all levels for reporting, monitoring progress, learning lessons, and ensuring mutual accountability,” and suggests accountability mechanisms at the national, regional and international level, as well as thematic reviews.   The Universal Periodic Review might serve as a model for an SDG accountability mechanism, perhaps through the U.N. High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.  In addition, or alternatively, as some human rights groups have suggested, existing human rights mechanisms might be strengthened to take into account the new global development goals.   The Synthesis Report itself suggests that some review might take place through the existing human rights mechanisms, such as the treaty body reviews, with the participation of civil society. 

Another important piece of the puzzle is how the final SDGs will be measured, including how they will articulate the relevant targets and indicators.  The Synthesis Report indicates that at least some of this will take place at the national level. 

Despite these unanswered questions, the Synthesis Report suggests a strong foundation for building human rights into the global development discussion, and offers promise for US human rights advocates who may seek to engage the SDGs in their advocacy on economic justice and poverty-related issues in the United States.  Stay tuned for further developments.

 

January 9, 2015 in Risa Kaufman, Universal Periodic Reviews | Permalink | Comments (0)