U.S. says it will tackle discrimination, prisons

Prisoners at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California are seen housed in a gymnasium due to overcrowding in the California prison system in this September 14, 2009 picture.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States promised on Tuesday to tackle racial discrimination and treat prisoners humanely in its jails at home and abroad, in line with recommendations by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

A U.S. delegation, responding to 228 recommendations made by other countries during a U.N. debate last Friday, said that the Obama administration was working to close its detention center for foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and would not tolerate torture anywhere.

But it rejected as "political provocations" recommendations about some judicial cases handled by U.S. courts. These had been raised by ideological foes including Cuba, which called for the release of five Cuban agents convicted of spying.

"While we are humbled by the work that remains, the United States is proud of our record of accomplishments, determined to extend it, and committed to continuing this dialogue," Harold Hongju Koh, State Department legal adviser, told the council.

The Obama administration will give its formal response to the council at its March session, after U.S. agencies make a full review of the recommendations, he said.

The Geneva forum is gradually reviewing the human rights record of all 192 U.N. members over a four-year period to 2011.

The United States defended itself against criticism of its performance from friend and foe alike last Friday at the council. It joined the body last year, ending a boycott by the administration of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.

"NO STONE UNTURNED"

Many countries and human rights groups criticized the U.S. justice system as disproportionately jailing racial and ethnic minorities. Prison conditions are often inhumane, they said.

"We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to eliminate racial profiling in law enforcement, to ensure that juveniles in our justice system are treated with respect and to guarantee humane treatment in detention," Koh said on Tuesday.

The United States was also committed to ensure all qualified voters could participate in elections and would enforce laws to ensure equal access to housing, credit, jobs and education.

"At a time when the U.S. has its first African-American President and Attorney General, a female Secretary of State, our first Hispanic Supreme Court justice and an Arab-American and two Asian-American cabinet members, we see visible progress in our national quest for equality and fair treatment," said Koh, an American lawyer of Korean origin.

The United States, in its armed conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and against al Qaeda militants, abides by all applicable law, including those upholding humane treatment, detention and use of force, he said.

"The United States defends the legality under the laws of war of using detention to remove adversaries from the conflict, but does not -- and will not -- countenance torture or inhumane treatment of detainees in its custody, wherever they are held," he added.

Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement that the Justice Department should expand its criminal investigation of torture to include not just the interrogators who mistreated captives, "but the senior Bush administration officials who authorized and facilitated it."

Bush said in his memoir "Decision Points" which hit bookstores on Tuesday that he approved a tough interrogation technique known as waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning condemned by human rights activists as torture, to try to extract information from al Qaeda operatives. He strongly defended it as critical to efforts to prevent a repeat of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)