Midwest Coalition for Human Rights - August 30, 2010

The United States recently submitted its first report to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in conjunction with the Universal Periodic Review, addressing key issues such as equality, national security, the treatment of detainees and immigration.  View the report here.  

Understanding Univeral Periodic Review

The Universal Periodic Review was created in 2006 and is a process to review the human rights record of all United Nations member states every four years.  The Review allows states to submit declarations of their actions to address human rights issues within their nations and the steps they have taken to fulfill their human rights obligations.  This submission represents the first analysis of the United States' entire human rights record before the international community and will be reviewed by the UPR Working Group in its 9th session, held November 1-12, 2010.  

Navigating the U.S. UPR Report

Racial justice is addressed in article 31, stating that "We are not satisfied with a situation where the unemployment rate for African Americans is 15.8%, for Hispanics 12.4%, and for whites 8.8%, as it was in February 2010.... We are not satisfied when fewer than half of African-American and Hispanic families own homes while three quarters of white families do. We are not satisfied that whites are twice as likely as Native Americans to have a college degree. The United States continues to address such disparities by working to ensure that equal opportunity is not only guaranteed in law but experienced in fact by all Americans".   

Statements can be found regarding treatment of detainees and the regulation of this treatment under the section titled "National Security" (page 20).  Article 84 expresses Executive Order 13491 Ensuring Lawful Interrogations and article 86 states that the United states "prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of persons in the custody or control of the U.S. Government, regardless of their nationality or physical location".  The situation at Guantanamo Bay is discussed under article 87 and article 88 further addresses Detention Policy Options.

Immigration is addressed under "Values and Immigration" (page 23).  Article 92 states that "the United States and other countries to which a significant number of people seek to emigrate face challenges in developing and enforcing immigration laws and policies that reflect economic, social, and national security realities. In addressing these issues we seek to build a system of immigration enforcement that is both effective and fair".  The United States states a commitment to fixing the "broken immigration system" in article 96.  

More information on MCHR and UPR

The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights has participated in this process by endorsing multiple reports submitted by non-profit and non-governmental organizations documenting human rights violations occurring in the United States.  To learn more about MCHR's involvement, click here.      

To learn more about the the Universal Periodic Review, click here.