ICCPR Task Force calls on DRL to draft US Fifth Periodic Report

Jun 27, 2019

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On June 14, 2019, the US Human Rights Network International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Task Force submitted a letter to the federal Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) signed by 53 civil society organizations. 

The letter calls on the DRL to comply with the ICCPR’s reporting obligations by drafting the country’s Fifth Periodic Report in consultation with state, local, and tribal governments, civil society, and Indigenous Peoples’ representative institutions. 

In 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Committee made several key recommendations in its review of the US, including on the issues of racial disparities in criminal justice; gun violence; Indigenous Peoples rights; torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment; voting rights; and the treatment of immigrants. Ahead of the next formal review of the US, it is vital for the DRL to submit its mandated report in response to these and other key human rights concerns that have emerged. 

Were the federal government to fail to submit its mandated report - an unprecedented situation - it would force the UN Human Rights Committee to move forward with a formal review of the US without an official US government report, and further undermine international human rights mechanisms.

Read the ICCPR Task Force’s letter here.

If you are interested in joining the USHRN ICCPR Task Force, please email Deputy Director Salimah Hankins at shankins@ushrnetwork.org.