American Civil Liberties Union

The ACLU Human Rights Program works to ensure that the U.S. government complies with universal human rights principles in addition to the U.S. Constitution. The Program uses human rights strategies to complement existing ACLU advocacy on national security, immigrants' rights, women's rights and racial justice. Learn more about the Human Rights Program.


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Human Rights : Press Releases

Glaring Omissions In U.S. Testimony On Racial And Ethnic Discrimination, Says ACLU (02/22/2008)
NEW YORK - The U.S. government failed to adequately address problems of widespread racial and ethnic discrimination in America at hearings before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva that ended today, despite testimony from the American Civil Liberties Union and dozens of human rights groups highlighting the existence of pervasive racism in this country. While the government delegation pointed to existing laws designed to protect civil rights, the committee noted that the U.S. often adopts narrow legal interpretations that prevent their enforcement.

ACLU In Geneva To Testify On Ongoing Racial And Ethnic Injustice (02/18/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union will be in Geneva this week to testify before the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the contents of a flawed U.S. government report that underreported the state of racial discrimination in the United States. In December 2007, the ACLU released a responsive independent shadow report highlighting the pervasive institutional, systemic and structural racism in America. The U.N. committee reviewed the ACLU and other NGOs’ reports before determining what questions it will ask the U.S. government at this week’s hearings.

Special U.N. Rapporteur on Human Rights Calls for Granting of Habeas Corpus Rights to Prisoners and an End to Indefinite Detentions (12/12/2007)
GENEVA – The United Nation's independent investigator on human rights in the fight against terrorism today urged the United States to release all people detained as "enemy combatants," close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay and abolish military commissions.

New ACLU Report Details Pervasive Racial Discrimination in America (12/10/2007)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today released a comprehensive analysis of the pervasive institutionalized, systemic and structural racism in America. The report, Race & Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice, is a response to the U.S. report to the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released earlier this year. The U.S. report, which the ACLU called a "whitewash," swept under the rug the dramatic effects of widespread racial and ethnic discrimination in this country.

Abused Domestic Workers of Diplomats Seek Justice From International Commission (11/15/2007)
NEW YORK –Domestic workers who were exploited and abused in the U.S. by foreign diplomats petitioned an international commission today because U.S. domestic law denies them their rights and a way to seek justice.

Government Defies Recommendations of U.N. Committee on Torture (11/07/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today blasted the government's one year follow-up report to the U.N. Committee Against Torture. The report was recently submitted to the committee in Geneva and was made public Tuesday. Following a 2006 committee review that found widespread evidence of U.S sponsored policies involving torture and abuse, the committee gave the U.S. one year to report on its progress in ending these practices. But the new report proves the U.S. is still not in compliance with the treaty, said the ACLU.

ACLU Releases Scathing Analysis of Government’s Report to UN Committee on Racial Discrimination (06/13/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today released a scathing preliminary analysis of a recent government report to a United Nations committee about the state of racial discrimination in the United States. The report was submitted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva.

Treatment Of Immigrants In U.S. Violates International Standards, NYCLU And Human Rights Groups Tell U.N. (05/11/2007)
NEW YORK - The New York Civil Liberties Union will join community organizations, immigrant rights groups and officials tomorrow in a public hearing on the occasion of the visit by Jorge Bustamante, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, to the New York area.

U.N. Independent Expert Denied Access to Hutto Detention Center (05/04/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today called on the U.S. government to explain why it is denying a United Nations independent expert access to the Hutto immigrant detention facility in Taylor, Texas.

Top U.N. Body on Women’s Issues Must Address Rights of Incarcerated Girls, Says ACLU (03/06/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today called on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women not to neglect the human rights of girls in government custody. According to the organization, incarcerated girls are particularly vulnerable and subject to violence, abuse and neglect. The priority theme of the 51st annual meeting of U.N. Commission on the Status Women, which meets this week in New York, is “the elimination of discrimination and violence against the girl child.”

ACLU Challenges Illegal Detention of Immigrant Children Held in Prison-Like Conditions (03/06/2007)
AUSTIN, TX - The American Civil Liberties Union today filed lawsuits on behalf of ten immigrant children, challenging their illegal detention at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas.

Federal Appeals Court Denies Day in Court for Victim of CIA Kidnapping, Citing “State Secrets” (03/02/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed its disappointment in an appeals court ruling upholding the dismissal of the case of Khaled El-Masri, an innocent victim of the CIA’s policy of “extraordinary rendition.”

Domestic Violence Victim Sues U.S. Government for International Human Rights Violations (03/02/2007)
NEW YORK – Jessica Gonzales, whose three daughters were kidnapped by her estranged husband and killed, and whose domestic violence protection claims were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, spoke publicly today for the first time before an adjudicating body, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The American Civil Liberties Union and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic represented Gonzales.

Bush Administration Fails to Sign Accord on Secret Detentions; ACLU Says Programs Must be Shut Down Permanently (02/07/2007)
WASHINGTON - Responding to the Bush administration's decision not to sign an international accord regarding secret detentions and forced disappearances, the American Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment and urged Congress to examine the government's policies and practices that would have conflicted with the agreement -- and to shut down permanently all secret detention programs and facilities and end the practice of illegal kidnapping.

U.S. Welcomes First-Ever Visit of U.N. Expert on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism (01/17/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed the U.S. government’s decision to accept a request from the United Nations’ top expert on human rights and counter-terrorism to visit the United States in the spring.

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