United States Submits Its Report on Ending Racial Discrimination
Feature Story by Steven Fanucchi - 8/8/2007
On April 23, 2007, the United States government released their most recent report on compliance with the International Convention of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), to widespread criticism from the domestic civil rights community.
Many U.S. NGOs argue that the government's report does little to address the serious and continuing problems with racial and ethnic inequality in America. As one example, the 121 page report only mentions Hurricane Katrina, and the racial disparities that event illustrated, one time.
The CERD mandates that all members submit a report every two years to the United Nations CERD committee addressing the treaty's implementation. The April report is only the second on compliance issued by the United States government since it ratified the treaty in 1994. The first was in 2000.
Calling the State Department's report, "a complete whitewash," Dennis Parker, director of the ACLU's racial justice program, said, "The report purports to describe the state of race relations and intolerance in the United States, but it ignores the continuing persistence of structural racism and inequality in this country."
Others have criticized the report as lacking commentary of whole subjects of concern, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, police brutality, racial profiling, felon disfranchisement, and the rise in hate crime violence aimed at Arabs, Muslims, South Asians and Sikhs in the wake of 9/11.
"The CERD is one of the most important international treaties of which the United States is a party," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR). "Full compliance with the CERD should be one of the U.S.' highest international priorities."
The CERD is a United Nations' treaty first adopted in 1969 that aims to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination in countries around the world. The treaty encourages nations to use positive means, such as affirmative action, to accomplish this goal.
Every two years, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requires members to report on the progress they are making towards the implementation of CERD goals. Non-governmental organizations, such as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and other civil and human rights organizations, are allowed to submit their own reports, called shadow reports, which are used to help the Committee better evaluate a nation's progress.
The Committee will review the United States' most recent submission in March 2008.
