COALITION LETTER TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND STATE DEPARTMENT ON THE US PERIODIC REPORT TO THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE UNDER THE ICCPR

The ACLU, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and 21 other organizations have sent a letter calling on the Biden administration to update the United States’ fifth periodic report to the UN Human Rights Committee under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The coalition urges the administration to update the report and repudiate statements made in the report, submitted by the Trump administration, especially with regard to the prohibition of torture in the context of solitary confinement, abortion rights, and the treatment of non-citizens, including migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. The coalition believes that the four ICCPR civil society consultations, being held by the administration between February and July, should elicit concrete policy changes leading up to the ICCPR U.S. review in October. Such action would demonstrate the United States’ serious commitment to advancing human rights at home and will be received favorably by both civil society and the UN Human Rights Committee.