U.N. Expert Calls on U.S. to Address Ongoing Issues of Racism

Special Rapporteur Presents Findings Before U.N. Human Rights Council

NEW YORK, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Nations special
rapporteur on racism offered recommendations for the U.S. to address ongoing
issues of discrimination in a presentation before the U.N. Human Rights
Council (UNHRC) today. At the invitation of the United States government,
former special rapporteur Doudou Diene toured the U.S. in May and June 2008 to
conduct an analysis of ongoing racism and ethnic discrimination. Today,
current special rapporteur Githu Muigai presented Diene's findings. This is
the first session of the UNHRC in which the U.S. is participating as a member.

"For the U.S. to lead by example, it should heed the recommendations of this
international expert and do more to address ongoing issues of racism and
ethnic discrimination in this country," said Chandra Bhatnagar, staff attorney
with the American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Program. "The
rapporteur's report offers the Obama administration a path forward on justice,
equality and human rights."

While in the U.S., the special rapporteur met with representatives of the ACLU
and other non-governmental organizations, government officials, Supreme Court
Justice Stephen Breyer and members of local communities. The resulting report
highlights racism in the criminal justice system, the disparity between
sentencing for crack and powder cocaine, abuses facing immigrant and
African-American workers in the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina
and the overall vulnerability of immigrant workers and the need to
meaningfully address the "school-to-prison pipeline." The report also calls on
Congress to pass the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) and create a bipartisan
commission to evaluate the on-going fight against racism.

"The special rapporteur's visits in Los Angeles with Arab, Sikh, Middle
Eastern, South Asian and Native American communities, and his review of the
ACLU's recent work on racial profiling at the Los Angeles Police Department,
helped to inform his conclusions about the ongoing and urgent need for racial
justice reform in this country," said Catherine Lhamon, Racial Justice
Director for the ACLU of Southern California. "We hope the rapporteur's report
will push us locally and as a nation to take concrete steps toward creating
meaningful justice for all Americans."

"Mr. Diene's report highlights the persistence of racism in the U.S. It
focuses on many issues that permeate the lives of so many people who live and
work in Florida, including racial profiling, the lack of legal protections for
immigrant workers, the housing crisis and homelessness, and the
school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon," said Muslima Lewis, Director of the
ACLU of Florida's Racial Justice Project. "We are hopeful that the
recommendations in the rapporteur's report will be the impetus for meaningful
and systemic racial justice reform in Miami, Florida and the entire country."

The rapporteur's report is available online at:
www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/11session/A.HRC.11.36.Add.3.pdf.

More information about the ACLU's work with the special rapporteur is
available online at: www.aclu.org/racialjustice/gen/sr_racism.html.

SOURCE American Civil Liberties Union

Rachel Myers of American Civil Liberties Union, +1-212-549-2689 or
+1-212-549-2666, media@aclu.org