Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission Works to Meet U.N. Obligations
By George Lippman, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission Vice-Chair and MCLI Executive Director
As mentioned in the December issue of 
Human Rights Now!, the City Council of Berkeley California -— at MCLI’s urging -- asked its citizen Peace and Justice Commission to prepare a report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on the status of the city’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR).
The Commission, through its UN Reports Subcommittee, is presently working towards the summer deadline for submission of the requested report to the UN Human Rights Committee.
The Peace and Justice Commission is excited about this project and sees a lot of potential in it. The Commission has been directed by the City Council to communicate our findings on the state of human rights in Berkeley not just to the United Nations, but especially to the people of Berkeley. The UN Reports project participants will supplement the official city data with feedback from city residents, to more accurately reflect the progress our community is making towards the UN's vision of international human rights.
Since October 2009, the Commission, through our UN Reports Subcommittee, has been gathering data from city documents and several of the 40 other city commissions. A talented cast of University of California (Berkeley) students has been analyzing and assembling the data into nine subject areas: health, shelter, women’s issues, LGBT issues, labor, education, police and criminal justice, the environment, and the human rights of people with disabilities.
All data and conclusions will be tied to specific provisions of the ICCPR treaty, such as Article 10: accordance with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; in Article 25: equal access of all persons to public affairs and services, and Article 26: prohibition of de facto and historically generated racial discrimination.
The final report needs to incorporate the sense of the grassroots, not simply the official story on the status of human rights. To this end, we intend to distribute our draft reports to the community in advance of public forum the evening of Monday, April 12, at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Before the report is delivered to the United Nations, it will be reviewed by the Berkeley City Council. That review is tentatively scheduled for May 11.
Following the completion of the ICCPR report, the Commission will prepare similar reports on the Convention to End Racial Discrimination and the Convention Against Torture and other forms of Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment, due in 2011.
In the Peace and Justice Commission we believe that the UN Treaty Reporting Project will provide for a constructive focus on local social justice Issues, as well as raising public awareness of City programs that address social justice issues in the City. We love Berkeley and its legacy of fighting for human rights for all.
The Commission’s enabling legislation mandates, “It is the responsibility of one and all to labor hard for peace and justice.” We are taking up this charge and will hold ourselves and our community to it.
For more information, please contact Commissioner Diana Bohn at: nicca[at]igc[dot]org