U.S. Government and Compliance with the ICCPR

September 9, 2013

The Center for Constitutional Rights has a strong practice of engaging with international human rights bodies to bring attention to our issues and uplift the experiences of those most impacted by the U.S. government’s failures to protect and uphold human rights. Independent human rights experts regularly review whether governments are in compliance with their human rights obligations. We engage with these experts by drafting shadow reports and other advocacy materials, providing testimony, lobbying, and working in coalition with our partners to use these opportunities to highlight serious human rights violations.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has played a critical role during periodic reviews of the U.S. government by UN treaty bodies, including those that review the U.S.’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racism (CERD), and during the cumulative Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Additionally, CCR advocates before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the regional rights body for the western hemisphere).

2023 UN Human Rights Committee Review of the United States

In September 2023, together with our partners, the Center for Constitutional Rights submitted six shadow reports to the United Nations Human Rights Committee to contribute to its upcoming review of the United States and the country’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Taken together, the wide-ranging reports - addressing death by incarceration sentences, the continued colonization of U.S. territories, the metastasizing terrorism framework that is silencing social movements, the discriminatory deprivation of clean water to Black communities, the ongoing detention of Muslim men in Guantanamo and the treatment of Black migrants - offer a damning indictment of the U.S. government’s failure to uphold its human rights obligations and call for action by the international community.

In addition to the shadow reports, under the leadership of the the Global Network of Movement Lawyers at Movement Law Lab, the Center for Constitutional Rights joined global partners in Kashmir, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Palestine to to highlight the U.S.’s particular role in propagating policies that have influenced the crackdown on civil society and social movements around the world.

SHADOW REPORTS

Death by Incarceration is Torture: The Cruelty of Life Sentences in the U.S. (with Abolitionist Law Center, Amistad Law Project, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law Andy and Gwen Stern Community Lawyering Clinic, DROP LWOP Coalition, Promise of Justice Initiative, Release Aging People in Prison, Right to Redemption, and The Sentencing Project)
Towards Decolonization & Repair: U.S. territories, self-determination, and the incompatibility of colonialism and human rights (with Blue Ocean Law (Guam) and the ACLU of Puerto Rico)
How the “War on Terror” has Metastasized to Silence U.S. Social Movements and Shrink Civic Space (with the Movement for Black Lives, Community Movement Builders, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and Last Real Indians)
Drinking Water Access and Affordability & U.S. Compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (with the Northeastern Law School Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy*, Food & Water Watch, and Community Members of Jackson, Mississippi)
Treatment of Foreign Nationals, including Refugees and Asylum-seekers, Disparately Impacting Black People and other Peoples Protected by the Covenant and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (with Haitian Bridge Alliance*, the UndocuBlack Network, Cameroon Advocacy Network, National Immigrant Justice Center, RFK Human Rights, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, and the University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic)
Human Rights and Security Coalition Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee Review of the United States of America on the use of lethal force outside of armed conflict and Guantánamo Bay (Human Rights & Security Coalition members include Amnesty International USA, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Victims of Torture, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute, Demand Progress Education Fund, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Government Information Watch, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, MPower Change, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Reprieve, and September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows)

GLOBAL LETTER

Letter from global civil society organizations providing information for the UN Human Rights Committee’s upcoming review of the United States of America under the ICCPR (with Al-Haq, Addameer, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Colectivo de Abogados y Abogadas “José Alvear Restrepo” (CAJAR), European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Global Network of Movement Lawyers - Movement Law Lab*, Kashmir Law and Justice Project, Palestine Institute for Public diplomacy (PIPD), Rede de Apoio às Favelas (Rio de Janeiro), Rede de Advogadas Populares Feministas Coletes Rosas (Rio de Janeiro), Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, and Temblores ONG). La carta en español.

*Indicates lead drafter of the submission.

The Committee issued highly critical concluding observations on the United States’ compliance with international human rights requirement on November 3, 2023. Together with our partners fighting death by incarceration, we responded.

2014 UN Human Rights Committee Review of the United States

In March 2014, the United States Government was reviewed by the UN Human Rights Committee with regards to its human rights commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This periodic review process took place in Geneva, Switzerland. The review was previously scheduled for October 2013 but was postponed at the time to 2014 due to the US government shutdown.

The Center for Constitutional Rights traveled to the periodic review session and advocated on its issues before Committee members. We successfully drew their attention to compelling human rights in the U.S. As a result of these advocacy efforts, the Committee questioned the government on issues including stop and frisk, racial profiling, surveillance of Muslims, the use of solitary confinement, the death penalty, Guantanamo and Special Administrative Measures (SAMs). Many of our issues were highlighted in the March review as areas of concern for the Committee. Click here to read a blog by Nahal Zamani chronicling these efforts.

The Committee issued highly critical concluding observations on the United States’ compliance with international human rights requirement on March 27, 2014. The Center for Constitutional Rights released a short statement in response.

Prior to the March 2014 review, the Center for Constitutional Rights authored shadow reports, contributed to other partner submissions and met with the State Department in order to draw attention to the United States' failures and missteps in meeting its international rights obligations. A selection of these documents and efforts is shared below:

Update Report

Update Submission: Abusive Stop and Frisk Practices and Violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, dated February 7, 2014
Updated Submission: Arbitrary Detention At Guantánamo, (February 2014)

Shadow Report Submissions

Stopped, Seized and Under Siege: U.S. Government Violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights through Abusive Stop and Frisk Practices (September 2013).
With University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic and Immigration Clinic,
Americans for Immigrant Justice, Alternative Chance, and Haitian Women of Miami (FANM), Written Statement on Deportations to Haiti (PDF) (September 2013)
With Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, American Muslims for Palestine, Council on American Islamic Relations-San Francisco Bay Area, and National Lawyers Guild International Committee, The Misuse of United States Law to Silence Pro-Palestinian Students’ Speech and Expression (PDF) (August 2013)
Arbitrary Detention At Guantánamo (PDF) (September 2013)
Accounting for a Decade of War: U.S. Veterans and Iraqi Organizations Seek Accountability for Human Rights Crisis Resulting from a Decade of U.S.-Led War (PDF) (September 2013).

In addition to the reports and efforts described above, CCR also contributed to the following efforts spearheaded by partner organizations and allies:

Rights Working Group 2013 shadow report submission (PDF) (September 2013)

List of Issue Submissions

The Center for Constitutional Rights also contributed to and authored submissions to influence the List of Issues announced by the Committee which it will focus on during its March 2014 review session.