State Dept. Requests Local Human Rights Reports

By Ann Fagan Ginger

May 20, Washington: The Department of State held a session with Non-Governmental Organizations on how to make the best reports under the U.N. treaties ratified by the U.S.

MCLI was represented at the meeting in Washington by Zachary Wolfe and on the phone by George Lippman, Ann Fagan Ginger, and intern Kelly Winer.

This was the largest such meeting ever called by the DOS concerning the treaties, including many NGOs quite new to the U.N. treaty process.

It did not include representatives of state, county and city governments, whose input is essential to have the U.S. reports be complete.

MCLI raised this point several times during the meeting and learned that this DOS has taken more steps than any previous DOS to notify state governors, attorneys general, and human rights commissions about the treaties.

But there is still no acceptance by the DOS that the treaties require the DOS to obtain information at the local level from local government bodies.

George Lippman, MCLI Executive Director, described the fact that the City of Berkeley is making reports to the three U.N. committees on specific problems as well as successes in the city.

"MCLI can be proud of its role in sending representatives to previous meetings of the UN committees in New York and Geneva to raise issues about local violations of the treaties not reported in the U.S. reports. Their input helped lead the committees to request specifically that the U.S. submit information from the local level," said George Lippman.

MCLI Intern Rod Brown is preparing chart templates which every city, county or state can use in future US reports. For example, each government body should tell the UN committees how many people have filed lawsuits or complaints about being illegally arrested, by race, nationality, immigration status, religion, etc.; how many of these cases have been won; how many are pending; and how many have been lost.

MCLI will expand its work to assist cities, counties, and states in: learning about the treaties, the reporting requirements, the date of submission. On May 24 theBerkeley Peace & Justice Commission adopted its report to submit to Berkeley City Council for approval to send to Department of State and UN Human Rights Committee.

Ann Fagan Ginger is Executive Director Emeritus, founder of MCLI, and MCLI Board Member.