(New York, September 23, 1997)--In an unprecedented mission to the United States, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions is now investigating the death penalty and police killings here. The Special Rapporteur, Senegalese lawyer Bacre Waly N'Diaye, will carry out his mission over the next two weeks. The mission delegation, which began its inquiry yesterday in Washington, DC, will travel to New York City, Miami, Austin, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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"Human Rights Watch welcomes the Special Rapporteur's mission, and is pleased that the U.S. federal government has agreed to this United Nations investigation of violations of international human rights law within the U.S.," stated Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Executive Director. "We are disappointed, however, with the lack of timely support provided by the State and Justice departments, which have clearly not made this important mission by the Special Rapporteur a high priority. In particular, we are concerned by the lack of assistance provided by the federal government in helping the Special Rapporteur's office arrange meetings with state and local officials who require information regarding the United States' cooperation with the Special Rapporteur's visit; in some cases, pressure from the federal government would have been helpful to urge the state and local officials to agree to meetings. This type of assistance has not been forthcoming, despite the State Department's pronouncements in support of international human rights monitoring mechanisms."
The Special Rapporteur's visit comes at a critical time. It appears likely that the number of executions this year will set new records, while at the same time, defendants' ability to appeal or to obtain qualified legal representation has become more difficult, due to federal funding cuts for legal resource centers, and new time limits on appeals that reduce the availability of pro bono representation. In a resolution passed last February, the American Bar Association called for a halt to the use of the death penalty in the United States until jurisdictions make policy changes to ensure fairness and due process in death penalty cases and to minimize the continued risk of executing the innocent. The Death Penalty Information Center recently reported that, since 1973, sixty-nine people have been released from death row after wrongful convictions or discovery of evidence proving their innocence. And Florida courts recently ruled the state's electric chair acceptable, despite repeated malfunctions which have twice this decade caused flames to shoot from the heads of those being electrocuted.
Police killings also continue at an alarming rate in all parts of the country. Fatal shootings, unauthorized use of choke holds, and brutal beatings remain too common, despite promises of reform in many large cities and stricter policies that are too often ignored. In too many cases, abusive police officers are not held accountable for their actions due to passive prosecutors, poor police leadership, and weak, or no, external review of the police department in most jurisdictions. As result, officers avoid any punishment for their conduct and community residents distrust the officers who are sworn to protect them.
This is only the second mission by a UN Special Rapporteur to the United States. The first such mission investigated racism and racial discrimination in October 1994. An investigation of human rights violations against women in the United States is planned for 1998.
During the past several years, Human Rights Watch has published several reports documenting human rights abuses in the United States and making recommendations for reforms, including human rights abuses in the state of Georgia, sexual abuse of women in U.S. state prisons, juvenile offenders on death row and juveniles in detention, abuses by U.S. Border Patrol agents, and the involvement of medical professionals in executions.
Note: A special rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the fifty-three government-member United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The special rapporteur receives information on human rights abuses from governments, non-governmental organizations, and other sources, investigates complaints, makes recommendations, and submits reports to the Commission. Through these reports, which are open to public scrutiny and debate, governments are held accountable for their human rights violations.
Biographical note: Mr. Bacre Waly N'Diaye, who works as a lawyer in Dakar, Senegal, and is a member of the Senegalese Bar Council, has a long record of activities in the field of human rights. He was a founding member (1979), Secretary General (1980-1982), and President (1982-1985) of the Senegalese section of Amnesty International. He was a member of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International (1985-1991), he held its Vice-Presidency from 1989 to 1991. In the framework of his position in Amnesty International he participated in several missions in Africa, Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, as well as Latin America. He is a member of the International Human Rights Council (Atlanta), the International Council on Human Rights Policy (London), and the board of Editors of the Asser Institute's Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law (The Netherlands). Furthermore, he is an advisor to the African Center on Democracy and Human Rights Studies (Banjul), and the International Service on Human Rights (Geneva). Since his appointment as Special Rapporteur in 1992, he has presented reports to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and to the General Assembly. He has undertaken missions to former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Peru, Indonesia and East Timor, Colombia, Burundi and Papua New Guinea Island of Bougainville.
