ushrnetwork's Content

US Human RIghts Network

ushrnetwork — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:21:41 -0700

Promote US accountability to universal human rights standards by building linkages between organizations and individuals working on human rights issues in the United States;

Enhance the visibility and presence of organizations and movements working for human rights in the US;

Build the capacity of US human rights organizers, advocates, organizations, and coalitions to advance their work;

Strive towards building a human rights culture in the US that puts those directly affected by human rights violations, with a special emphasis on grassroots organizations and social movement in a leadership role; and

Work towards connecting the US human rights movement with the broader US social justice movement and human rights movements around the world.

Core Principles

Human Rights are interdependent, inalienable and universal

Human Rights include civil, political, economic, social, cultural, indigenous, women, children, environmental, and gender rights

Human Rights are advanced and protected through building social movements

Human Rights movements must be lead by those most directly affected by human rights violations

Human rights advocacy and organizations must always respect and reflect the diversity within communities

Human Rights organizations must be financially responsible and accountable to the individuals, communities and movements they serve

US Human Rights Network Membership Skill Building and Training Conference Call

ushrnetwork — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:50:30 -0700

Local Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and its relationship with the Durban Review Conference (DRC) of the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR)

This training call will focus on how human rights advocates can use ICERD on a city, county, and statewide level to address issues of racial inequality and inequity. It will specifically focus on the intersection of community organizing, legal advocacy, and public education to advance the application of the 2008 Concluding Observations of the Committee to Elimination Racial Discrimination (CERD).

It will also explore the interrelationship between local ICERD implementation and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action from the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances (WCAR) held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

Presenter:

Makani Themba-Nixon

Makani Themba-Nixon is Executive Director of The Praxis Project, a nonprofit organization helping communities use media and policy advocacy to advance health equity and justice. Makani was previously director of the Transnational Racial Justice Initiative (TRJI), an international project to build capacity among advocates to more effectively address structural racism and leverage tools and best practices from around the world. While at TRJI, she co-authored and edited a "shadow report" on institutional racism.

Registration link:

https://www.accuconference.com/customer/Registration/index.aspx?pkRegQG=...

Stop Deportations to Haiti Today: Sign Online Petition

ushrnetwork — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:49:09 -0800

Demanded TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for Haitians, which was previously denied by the Bush administration. TPS has been granted in recent years to nine countries plagued by war or natural disasters: El Salvador, Honduras, Liberia, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan. It allows refugees from those countries to live and work legally in the US. The designation is effective for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 18 months.

After four storms in August and September 2008 brought widespread death and destruction to Haiti, the U.S. government suspended Haitian deportations for three months. But expulsions resumed after Dec. 5, sending dozens of Haitians back to their homeland since then. Between January and December 2008, 1024 Haitians were repatriated, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement or ICE.

In February, U.S. immigration officials announced that 30,299 Haitians were subject to immediate deportation back to Haiti.

Please join us in urging President Obama to Stay deportations to Haiti.

Episode 8: Human Rights in Crisis: Racial Profiling and Housing

ushrnetwork — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:45:44 -0800

http://www.ushrnetwork.podomatic.com/

This eposide of our Podcast: No Retreat, No Compromise tackle's two topics.

The federal stimulus package passed into law but questions remain about the implementation and effectiveness of the plan. Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty provides an evaluation of the stimulus package as it relates to housing. Describing the Center's current policy work, she also discusses the value of applying a Human Rights framework to the housing struggle.

In the span of 24 hours between December 31st, 2008 and January 1st, 2009, three Black men were the victims of racial profiling at the hands of various law enforcement agencies throughout the US. Kamau Franklin, activist and attorney with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement discusses their appeal to the federal Department of Justice to end racial profiling and intervene in the three cases of Oscar Grant, Adolph Grimes and Robbie Tolan.

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

ushrnetwork — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:38:38 -0700

June 26 marks the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The spotlight has been shining for months on U.S. government torture of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay detention facilities, and these abuses will likely be a major focus of attention on June 26. But the U.S. Human Rights Network and its 255 member organizations have long argued that torture does not begin and end outside U.S. borders, and we urge that local, state and federal governments take immediate steps to stop the domestic physical and mental abuses that contravene international anti-torture law. "Examples of torture in the U.S. have been documented by U.S. organizations and verified by the U.N. for more than a decade," says Network Executive Director Ajamu Baraka. "It is high time for these practices to be abolished."

JR Arrest

ushrnetwork — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:35:41 -0800

JR Arrest

ushrnetwork — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:35:41 -0800

Human Rights Activists Wrongfully Arrested in New Orleans

ushrnetwork — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:15:24 -0800

Housing Activist Arrested during demonstrations in New Orleans

ushrnetwork — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:57:44 -0800

Housing activist arrested during peaceful demonstrations in New Orleans against the illegal demolition of public housing.

Stop the Public Housing Demolition in New Orleans

Stop the Public Housing Demolition in New Orleans

ushrnetwork — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:35:56 -0800

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is preparing to demolish more than 4,600 public housing units in New Orleans, a move that constitutes a major violation of human rights and will dramatically exacerbate the affordable housing crisis that has gripped the city since Hurricane Katrina. The US Human Rights Network deplores this action, which is both punitive and unnecessary, and calls on its members and activists from around the country to take action in response.

Under the HUD plan, backed by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), the units slated for demolition would be replaced with only 744 new public units, an 82 percent reduction. This despite the fact that HANO’s own calculations show it would be far cheaper to repair and retain the existing apartments, the majority of which are located in four public housing projects and sustained minimal damage from Katrina, than to demolish them and rebuild only a fraction. The plan will cost HUD a staggering $762 million.

The eradication of public housing would come at a particularly bad time in New Orleans. Rents have doubled in the city since Katrina, as has the number of homeless, now estimated at 12,000. That number will rise if the HUD plan is completed; of the 4,600 targeted units, about 2,000 are currently occupied. And FEMA has announced that it plans to evict as many as 50,000 residents living in temporary trailers throughout the region by next May.

The human rights implications of this outrageous scheme are numerous and sweeping. The right to adequate housing is guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has been reinforced in subsequent international agreements to which the U.S. is a party. Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the federal government is required to provide “basic shelter and housing” to internally displaced persons. The Principles also state that authorities must “establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which allow internally displaced persons to return voluntarily…to their homes.” This right of return has been systematically denied to thousands of Gulf Coast residents who have been scattered across the country, and the HUD plan will further limit their prospects.

Moreover, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which the U.S. ratified in 1994, states that governments must “guarantee the right of everyone, … to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of … the right to housing.” The US Human Rights Network cited ongoing violations of this obligation in New Orleans in its report on U.S. compliance with ICERD, delivered to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on December 10.

The blatant and calculated assault on public housing in New Orleans is a threat to public housing across the U.S. and the right to housing in general. The failings of the authorities at every level before, during and after Katrina have been well documented and publicized, but they continue to act in a manner contrary to the basic rights and dignity of the citizens. If the federal, state and local officials can succeed in their apparent mission to cleanse the city of its poor, mostly African American residents, it bodes ill for all who care about human rights in this country.

Public housing residents in New Orleans have been fighting the demolition, backed by organizations and activists throughout the Gulf Coast. They have succeeded in delaying the plan, but they need help. Therefore, the USHRN urges its member organizations and individuals to take whatever steps they can to support the affected residents and prevent this latest egregious and intolerable violation of their rights.

Join the US Human Rights Network, which has been on the front lines in New Orleans since Katrina, and support the Hold the U.S. Accountable: Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)-Human Rights Campaign.
www.ushrnetwork.org