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New ACLU Report Charges Military Recruitment Practices Violate International Standards The United States is shirking its commitments under an international agreement and failing to protect the rights of vulnerable young people. In a report to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, the ACLU charges that the U.S. isn't upholding its obligations under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict that it ratified in 2002. The report focuses on the U.S. military's recruiting tactics that target youth under 17 and low-income youth and students of color, and the U.S. government's failure to protect the rights of foreign child soldiers such as Guantánamo detainees Omar Khadr and Mohammed Jawad. > Military Recruitment Practices Violate International Standards, Says ACLU (5/13/2008) > Report: Soldiers of Misfortune ACLU Hosts Police Brutality and Human Rights Workshop The ACLU Human Rights Program and the ACLU of Puerto Rico presented a two-day workshop for social justice advocates interested in developing human rights strategies to end police brutality and human rights violations. Through identifying shared advocacy goals, we worked to develop concrete strategies for using human rights standards and mechanisms to expose and end police brutality, and to bring justice to victims of police abuse. The workshop used a human rights lens to tackle a range of issues. > Fourth Annual ACLU Congress On Civil Liberties In Puerto Rico Begins Today (5/1/2008) ACLU Petitions International Tribunal on Behalf of Khaled El-Masri On April 9, 2008, the ACLU filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an innocent victim of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear El-Masri's case in October 2007. > Innocent Victim Of CIA Extraordinary Rendition Program Takes Case To International Tribunal (4/9/2008) Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Alleging Violations of the Human Rights of Khaled El-Masri by the United States of America New ACLU Report Details Pervasive Racial Discrimination in America The government report failed to level with the international community about the U.S.'s human rights record when it comes to racial injustice. The ACLU's report details police brutality and racial profiling, voter disfranchisement and skyrocketing rates of incarceration, and wide, corrosive effects of racial discrimination. > Report: Race & Ethnicity in America > 12/10/2007: New ACLU Report Details Pervasive Racial Discrimination in America > 6/13/2007: ACLU Calls State Department Report a "Complete Whitewash" Audio: Human Rights Program Staff Attorney Chandra Bhatnagar talks about the CERD report with Tavis Smiley NATIONAL SECURITY More >> > ACLU Petitions IACHR on Behalf of Extraordinary Rendition Victim Khaled El-Masri > Five Years at Guantánamo > Torture FOIA: Litigation for Records of Abuse at Abu Ghraib and Other Detention Facilities > ACLU Attorney Steven Watt and Ghost Plane Author Stephen Grey Discuss the CIA Torture Program > Enduring Abuse: Torture and Cruel Treatment by the U.S. > Extraordinary Rendition: Abducting Foreign Nationals for Interrogation > Ali v. Rumsfeld WOMEN'S RIGHTS More >> > Modern Slavery: Domestic Worker Abuse by Foreign Diplomats in the United States > Custody and Control: Report on Juvenile Prisons for Girls > Gonzales v. USA > Chere v. Taye RACIAL JUSTICE More >> > Petition of New Jersey Citizens on Parole and Probation to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights > Out of Step With the World: Felony Disfranchisement in the U.S. and Other Democracies > U.N. Human Rights Body Slams Louisiana Actions During Katrina (7/28/2006) > IACHR Petition Alleging Violations of the Human Rights of Juveniles Sentenced to Life Without Parole in the U.S. IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS More >> > Undocumented Workers Bring Plea for Non-Discrimination to Human Rights Body > Witness to Abuse: Human Rights Abuses Under the Material Witness Law Since Sept. 11, 2001 > Worlds Apart: How Deporting Immigrants After Sept. 11, 2001, Tore Families Apart and Shattered Communities > Petition to U.N. on Behalf of Detainees Arrested After Sept. 11, 2001 To subscribe to all ACLU podcasts, copy and paste this link into your podcast application or feed reader: http://www.aclu.org/multimedia/pod_rss.xml

New Government Report Reveals 2,500 Youths Held In Military Custody Abroad (5/14/2008)
NEW YORK - In a supplemental report to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) made public today, the U.S. government revealed that it has no comprehensive policy in place for dealing with youth detained by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, including nearly 2,500 youths under the age of 18 that have been held in U.S.-run facilities overseas to date. In a separate report, the American Civil Liberties Union charged that the lack of safeguards in place for the treatment of youth under the age of 18 in U.S. military custody violates internationally accepted standards.

Military Recruitment Practices Violate International Standards, Says ACLU (5/13/2008)
NEW YORK – The United States has failed to uphold its commitments to safeguard the rights of youth under 18 from military recruitment and to guarantee basic protections to foreign former child soldiers, according to an American Civil Liberties Union report released today. The report, "Soldiers of Misfortune," charges that U.S. military recruiting practices that target children as young as 11, the lack of protections for alleged foreign child soldiers in U.S. military custody, and the denial of protection to former child soldiers from other countries seeking asylum violate the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict that the U.S. ratified in 2002.

Fourth Annual ACLU Congress On Civil Liberties In Puerto Rico Begins Today (5/1/2008)
MIRAMAR, PR – Victims of some of the worst cases of police brutality in United States history will join the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Puerto Rico to address issues of police brutality and racial discrimination at the Fourth Annual Congress on Civil Liberties in Puerto Rico beginning today.

International Human Rights Experts Denounce US Record On Racial And Ethnic Discrimination (3/7/2008)
GENEVA -- A United Nations committee today issued a strongly worded critique of the United States' record on racial discrimination and urged the government to make sweeping reforms to policies affecting racial and ethnic minorities, women, and immigrants in this country. The American Civil Liberties Union called on the U.S. government to take vigorous steps to implement the committee's recommendations and fulfill its human rights treaty obligations.

Glaring Omissions In US Testimony On Racial And Ethnic Discrimination, Says ACLU (2/22/2008)
NEW YORK - The U.S. government failed to adequately address problems of widespread racial and ethnic discrimination in America at hearings before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva that ended today, despite testimony from the American Civil Liberties Union and dozens of human rights groups highlighting the existence of pervasive racism in this country. While the government delegation pointed to existing laws designed to protect civil rights, the committee noted that the U.S. often adopts narrow legal interpretations that prevent their enforcement.