Universal Human Rights

03/12/2013

U.S. Torture

American Torture and the 'Heroic Imagination'

By Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU & Larry Siems, The Torture Report at 11:55am

This was originally posted on The Huffington Post.

Click here to read an original op-ed from the TED speaker who inspired this post and watch the TEDTalk below.

Trained in the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military interrogators and guards who tortured and dehumanized prisoners in U.S. custody after 9/11 were hardly without ethical bearings. But as Alberto Mora, former chief counsel of the Navy, predicted when he discovered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had authorized previously banned interrogation techniques,

12/18/2012

Universal Human Rights

Does U.S. Immigration Policy Respect Human Rights?

By Allison Frankel, ACLU Human Rights Program at 4:38pm

Today is International Migrants Day, a day to reflect on the human rights of immigrants and migrant communities. As the ACLU blogged last week, despite accomplishments on some key human rights issues, the U.S. still has a long way to go to fulfill its promises to vulnerable members of our society such as immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities.

Last Monday, the ACLU brought these concerns to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, a body of independent experts that next year will examine the United States’ report on its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a fundamental human rights treaty the U.S. ratified in 1992. Our submission suggests critical questions the committee should pose to the U.S. during its review next October.

05/02/2013

United Nations

U.N. Working Group Finds That U.S. Needs to Do More to Address the Adverse Business Impacts on Human Rights

By Katie Haas, ACLU Human Rights Program at 4:45pm

The United Nations Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises yesterday completed its first country visit to the United States. The Working Group was formed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2011 to disseminate and implement the recently developed "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights," which set forth countries' obligation to protect people from human rights violations caused by businesses or other entities and the necessity of appropriate remedies for such violations. The Guiding Principles also outline businesses' responsibility to respect human rights. At the invitation of the U.S. government, the Working Group visited many cities and met with diverse stakeholders including federal and state officials, businesses, trade unions, and civil society organizations.

04/21/2013

U.S. Death Penalty

Executing Human Dignity: U.S. Death Penalty System Dominates IACHR Report

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 4:09pm

According to a recent Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report on the death penalty in the Americas, the United States stands out as an outlier in a region that has come close to abolishing the death penalty. This report will be officially launched at a public event next Monday at the American Bar Association, moderated by the ACLU.

04/09/2013

Solitary Confinement

International Body Slams U.S. Solitary Confinement Practices

By Ian Kysel, Aryeh Neier Fellow, ACLU Human Rights Program at 5:07pm

There are more than 80,000 people in solitary confinement in the United States. Last week, the widespread misuse and abuse of solitary confinement in jails and prisons across the country drew international condemnation when the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights criticized the United States following weeks of hearings on human rights practices across the Americas region.

03/14/2013

Solitary Violates Human Rights

New York Subjects Prisoners to Solitary as a Disciplinary Tool of First Resort

By Elena Landriscina, Legal Fellow, NYCLU at 1:52pm

On any given day in New York State, approximately 4,500 people are confined for 22 to 24 hours a day in solitary confinement...

03/12/2013

Solitary Violates Human Rights

ACLU to Testify Today: Solitary Confinement is a Human Rights Violation Happening on U.S. Soil

By Hilary Krase, ACLU National Prison Project at 10:01am

The world will get a glimpse this week into how the United States treats those we lock in solitary confinement, when the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hears ACLU testimonies on how our treatment of vulnerable prisoners violates international human rights norms. The short story: we should be ashamed. For a more detailed picture, check back throughout the week for an ongoing blog series on the issue.

Both domestically and abroad, there is an increasing recognition of the negative effects of prolonged solitary confinement – yet this harmful practice still occurs in our own backyard.

03/11/2013

Solitary Violates Human Rights

The Change in Maine: The Pine Tree State Leads the Way on Solitary Confinement Reform

By Rachel Healy, Director of Public Education and Communications, ACLU of Maine at 4:22pm

The world will get a glimpse this week into how the United States treats those we lock in solitary confinement, when the Inter-American Commission...

12/18/2012

Solitary Confinement

Falling Behind: The Human Rights Implications of Solitary Confinement in the United States

By Katie Haas, ACLU Human Rights Program at 9:45am

Last week, the world celebrated International Human Rights Day, marking the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

12/11/2012

U.S. Torture

A Mother’s “Last Chance” at Justice: José Padilla Torture Case Brought Before Human Rights Tribunal

By Deborah Francois, Yale Law School, Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic & Sheng Li, Yale Law School, Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic & Alaina Varvaloucas, Yale Law School, Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at 5:04pm

After a fruitless five-year battle in U.S. federal courts to hold accountable those who unlawfully detained and tortured her son José Padilla, Estela Lebron today sought to have their claims heard by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). You can read today’s filing here.

Padilla is the only American citizen to have been seized on U.S. soil, detained as an enemy combatant, kept in incommunicado military detention, and tortured. Until U.S. courts stop using national security arguments to bar Bush-era torture survivors from seeking remedies for abuses, victims, like Padilla and Lebronwill have to resort to international bodies for any chance at redress.

American Civil Liberties Union