By Devon Chaffee, Legislative Policy Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:46pm
Today, the ACLU laid out concrete steps the Obama administration should take to live up to the human rights promises it made to the U.N. just over one year ago. The release of our new briefing paper coincides with the administration's announcement today of a newly created interagency process for implementing those commitments. The new process is a step in the right direction, and will establish working groups in areas such as criminal justice, immigration, and national security.
By Devon Chaffee, Legislative Policy Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:12pm
This morning 36 organizations sent a letter to Sen. Feinstein (D-Calif.) urging her to block a proposal to establish a commission on so-called "domestic radicalization." Instead of examining proven indicators of violent acts — a legitimate subject of government scrutiny — the proposed commission would focus on ideology, which, even if radical, is protected by the First Amendment.
By Devon Chaffee, Legislative Policy Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:56pm
On Friday, the U.N.'s Human Rights Council took a critical step forward for human rights by recognizing that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people around the world struggle against violence and discrimination every day and deserve protection from such abuses. On the closing day of the Council meeting in Geneva, members adopted, for the first time ever, a resolution condemning violence and discrimination against those who are LGBT. It is the first U.N. resolution to focus solely on LGBT persons.
