ACLU of Northern California Condemns U.S. for Failing to Uphold Human Rights


For Immediate Release: June 20, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO – The American Civil Liberties Union released a report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee today condemning the U.S. government for failing to comply with its treaty obligations to protect and preserve human rights protections at home and abroad.

Human rights violations in California are among the examples cited in the national report, Dimming the Beacon of Freedom: U.S. Violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Citing allegations of Pentagon spying on California peace groups, the report draws attention to the erosion of the right to privacy, expanded government surveillance and the government’s growing use of the states secret privilege to avoid accountability for abuses. Government surveillance violates the norms recognized internationally by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the primary human rights treaty that the U.S. signed in 1992.

“In Northern California we are very concerned with the impact of domestic surveillance and privacy,” said Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC). “We recently filed suit against AT&T and Verizon for illegally providing the NSA with phone records of millions of California customers. By working with established international mandates we hope to put pressure on the U.S. to bring California into line with the rest of the world.”

Other human rights violations cited in the report include California’s exceedingly harsh and discriminatory “Three Strikes” law and post 9/11 profiling of South Asian, Muslim and Arab citizens, such as the airline profiling case filed by the ACLU-NC, Chowdhury v. Northwest Airlines. These circumstances violate Article 26 of the ICCPR, calling for Equality before the Law.

The report documents the U.S. record on human rights in five areas: national security, women's rights, racial justice, immigrants’ rights and religious freedom. Drawing attention to some of the most vulnerable members of society, including women, children, minorities, immigrants and the accused, the report provides a detailed description of human rights violations in the United States.

The ACLU urges the Bush Administration to:

Ensure that federal judicial remedies are available to all persons detained in the “war on terror,” including immigrants, minorities, women and undocumented persons;

Thoroughly and promptly investigate all allegations of torture and abuse in the U.S. or U.S.-controlled prisons, jails and other detention facilities;

Immediately end the illegal practice of rendering individuals to secret detention facilities or to countries known to participate in torture;

Cease and desist domestic surveillance of Americans without probable cause and prior judicial approval;

Reform the nation's immigration policy and ensure its compliance with human rights standards;

Curtail the excessive secrecy in the administration of justice;

Require states to properly fund and supervise their indigent defense systems;

Repeal laws that convict women based on who they associate with rather than their conduct;

Reduce minority over-representation in juvenile detention systems;

Allow all citizens, regardless of their criminal history, to vote; or, as an alternative, require all states to restore voting rights upon completion of a criminal sentence.

The Human Rights Committee is the U.N. body of experts charged with monitoring countries’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The committee will review the official submission of the U.S. government on July 17 and 18 in Geneva. The ACLU will send a delegation to present the report and monitor the proceedings.

“America should be a beacon of freedom throughout the world, not a country that violates the basic human rights of its own people,” said Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU.

The ACLU's new Human Rights Working Group is dedicated to holding the U.S. government accountable to universally recognized human rights principles. The Human Rights Working Group is charged with incorporating international human rights strategies into ACLU advocacy on issues relating to national security, immigrants' rights, women's rights and racial justice.