The United Nations question the treatment of immigrants in the United States and urged U.S. officials to bolster efforts to combat discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities.
The critique by 18 independent members of the U.N.’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) called on the U.S. government to take several steps to fulfill its obligations under an international treaty it ratified in 1994.
The committee recommended the U.S. government take the following steps:
•Approve the Civil Rights Act of 2008 to ensure the rights of minority and immigrant workers, including undocumented workers.
•Combat nationwide racial profiling by law enforcement officials.
•Strengthen affirmative action legislation designed to combat discrimination.
•Tackle the problem of violence against minority and immigrant women, especially domestic workers.
•Eliminate criminal defense programs that disproportionately affect low-income minorities.
The United was making its first appearance before CERD since 2001. Since then, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there have been widespread human rights violations directed by the federal government, especially against Arabs, Muslims and South Asians according to CERD members.
The committee also pointed to systematic racial discrimination against African Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups.
“You need to intensify your efforts at all levels to combat this very alarming phenomenon,” Linos-Alexander Sicilianos, a member of the panel, told the U.S. delegation, according to the Associated Press.
The panel also questioned the U.S. death penalty and the practice of sentencing minors to life without parole.
“Whether we are speaking of the Roma in Europe, African-Americans in the United States, or others, on this day, we must not only acknowledge the continuing problem of racial discrimination, but solutions,” said Congressman Alcee L. Hastings, (D-FL).
CERD periodically reviews the performances of 173 that ratified the 1969 Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The 18 independent panel members include one American.
