"The Senate Supports Civil Rights." ("Not really. We lied.")
June 22, 2006
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
Yesterday, Rev. Curtis Harris, Vice President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and a colleague of SCLC founder Dr. Martin Luther King, announced at a Washington press conference that the US Senate maintains a secret civil rights policy <affirmed by use of the same means as President's "signing statements.">
The SCLC attempted to bring a class action suit against the Department of the Army for racial discrimination practices but their case was denied certification by the Federal courts. The SCLC maintains that the U.S. Senate, when ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1994 (adopted by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 21, 1965, going into force on Jan. 21, 1969), placed a number of reservations in the treaty which are aimed at secretly maintaining institutionalized discrimination in the United States. These reservations are aimed at preventing African Americans from having their cases heard by the International Court of Justice when they are prevented achieving redress through the U.S. Courts.
The SCLC points out that the treaty reservations adopted by the U.S. Senate are:
1. The U.S. does not agree to the UN standard of reviewing and updating policies which have affect or cause discrimination.
2. The U.S. does not agree to the UN standard to prohibit discriminatory practices by law as needed.
3. The U.S. does not agree to the UN standard to condemn racial discrimination and agree to promote understanding between races.
4. The U.S. does not agree to the UN standard to condemn theories on racial superiority.
5. The U.S. does not agree to the UN standard to take effective measures to teach, educate, and inform others to combat prejudice.
6. The U.S. asserts that the current constitution and laws provide adequate protection against discrimination against African Americans.
In addition to these reservations that gut the effectiveness of the treaty as far as the United States is concerned, the U.S. requires that African Americans and other ethnic groups seek permission for seeking any redress with the International Court of Justice; the U.S. does not recognize the legal rights of African Americans to file directly with the International Court of Justice. The SCLC contends that the United States does not have the legal authority under international law to require African American descendants of African citizens to seek permission to file racial supremacy issues with the International Court of Justice.
There were no public hearings on the treaty reservations passed by the Senate nor is there a public record of any debate on the issue.
The SCLC compares the U.S. attitude to the Racial Discrimination Convention to that of post-apartheid South Africa, which quickly ratified the treaty in 1994 without reservations.
Perhaps the most surprising revelation by the SCLC was the fact that the United Nations assisted the SCLC in the disclosure of the U.S. Senate's secret racial policy.
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It's clear that the neo-confederates in the Bush administration and GOP are pining for these "good ole days."
In addition to the UN Racial Discrimination Convention, WMR has also learned that the Bush administration is violating another set of UN treaties: the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (ratified by 192 countries and not ratified by only 2 countries, Somalia and the United States, Somalia because it does not have a functioning government) and the 1999 Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (ratified by the U.S. in 2000). We have learned that child labor laws are being routinely violated in the United States, particularly by employers of undocumented Hispanic children being used in dangerous jobs and sawmill employers of Amish children who are being killed in accidents. U.S. child labor laws and international law forbid the use of children in dangerous jobs.
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Bush's child labor policy: Leave no child's behind left.
