RFK CENTER OP-ED:US ENGAGEMENT IN HUMAN RIGHTS, MORE OR LESS
The Administration's decision to seek a seat at the Human Rights Council is a very significant one. A decision long due for those who believe that if the US is concerned about respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights at home and abroad it must be engaged in the world body that deals with human rights. With a new President and a changed administration, many had hoped that the US would move in this direction and participate in the Durban Review Conference, held in Geneva last month.
US engagement in the Durban Review Conference would have provided a strong push forward toward an international framework to eradicate racism and all forms of discrimination. As the denial and failure to address racism and discrimination continues to be an enormous obstacle to equitable development and democracy, the global human rights community made a concerted effort for US engagement and key country participants went out of their way to change the content of the final document in an effort to bring the US into the process.
Regrettably, the conference went on as planned, without US participation.
Had the US participated it could have provided leadership and support for human rights struggles in its own backyard and around the world, such as those fought by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureates. The challenges they face underscore the need for US engagement in human rights at home and internationally. In the Dominican Republic, 2006 RFK Human Rights Laureate Sonia Pierre struggles against the denial of the right to nationality and education of Dominican children of Haitian descent. Many of these children are effectively left stateless because of their ancestry and the color of their skin. In the US, 2005 RFK Human Rights Laureate Stephen Bradberry works to ensure that Gulf Coast residents affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, whom are disproportionately African-American, are neither excluded from reconstruction efforts nor permanently displaced from communities. 2000 RFK Human Rights Laureate Martin Macwan leads a movement to end untouchability in his home state of Gujarat and consequently across India. Discrimination, whether overt or evidenced by the effective exclusion of entire ethnic communities, is at the core of these struggles. The issues confronted by these human rights defenders demand effective mechanisms to address institutional exclusion, such as those discussed at Durban and affirmed in Geneva.
The first World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance was held in South Africa in 2001. Its product-the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action (DDPA)-was a major victory for victims. The Durban Declaration acknowledges that the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism have been both important causes and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and simultaneously affirms the values of respect and multiculturalism. The Plan of Action set guidelines for governments and civil society to implement policies to address structural discrimination and level the playing field for afro-descendants, indigenous peoples, migrants and others minorities. Since having walked away from Durban in 2001, the US has remained removed from the process of implementation and evaluation which included the Review Conference in Geneva last month. By turning its back on the Review Conference, the US has missed a major opportunity to engage in this process.
The final document that emerged from Geneva last month (agreed to by consensus by 182 of 192 UN member-states) reaffirmed the importance of addressing racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The Review Conference was a victory because it occurred; however, the outcome document still lacked a serious review of the benchmarks created in 2001 and failed to include important discriminated groups, such as the LGBT communities and caste issues. We cannot know for certain whether US participation would have addressed all of their concerns, but as long as the US does not participate, it cannot provide the leadership needed to confront them. The fact is that those who engage and invest in these processes mold their content and outcomes.
Commenting on US engagement on the Human Rights Council, US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, recently affirmed that "We are much better placed to be fighting for the principles we believe in-protection of human rights universally [...] by leading and lending our voice from within." Ambassador Rice is absolutely right; the US should engage consistently with global human rights processes.
Marselha Gonçalves Margerin is Advocacy Director of the Center for Human Rights at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights
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