In a letter released today, Human Rights Watch called on the Bush Administration's Justice Department to promote and protect human rights in the United States. The letter outlines a human rights agenda for the new U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, on such issues as prisoner abuses, police brutality, sentencing, the mistreatment of immigrants, the federal death penalty, and the poor U.S. record on ratifying international human rights treaties.
We are urging Attorney General Ashcroft to demonstrate that the U.S. government champions human rights at home as well as abroad -- and that the Justice Department will not tolerate abuses of basic rights for any reason," said Allyson Collins, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher for the U.S. "We hope this Attorney General will both build upon the positive steps taken by previous administrations, Democratic and Republican, and undertake new initiatives to ensure full respect for the fundamental rights of all people."
In its letter, Human Rights Watch makes a number of recommendations, including:
* full funding for the Civil Rights Division, including its Special Litigation and Criminal Sections;
* a federal grant incentive program to reward police and corrections departments who take concrete steps to improve accountability systems and to punish abusive officers;
* a moratorium on federal executions;
* adequate data collection on allegations of police use of excessive force and racial profiling;
* improved treatment for immigrants, both adults and children, held in Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) custody;
* review of racial disparities stemming from anti-drug laws and their enforcement;
* and ratification of, and compliance with, international human rights treaties.
