Nearly 90 Groups Urge US to Invite UN Special Rapporteur on Racism to US

The Honorable Michael R. Pompeo 
Secretary of State 
U.S. Department of State 
2201 C Street NW 
Washington, DC 20520 

Re: Invitation to UN Special Rapporteur on Racism 

Dear Mr. Secretary:

We write to urge you to extend an invitation to Professor E. Tendayi Achiume, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (“Special Rapporteur on Racism”), to conduct an official fact-finding visit to examine the historic and present marks of racism and racial discrimination that have presented new and renewed, alarming trends of racism in the United States. With this letter we bring an opportunity for us to work together during this Quad-Centennial of the arrival of African peoples from Angola to the USA in 1619.

As you may be aware, the last Special Rapporteur on Racism visit to the United States was in 2008 at the invitation of the George W. Bush administration. That timely visit enjoyed bi-partisan support. In his report to the Human Rights Council, Mr. Doudou Diène, then the Special Rapporteur noted:

Racism and racial discrimination have profoundly and lastingly marked and structured American society. The U.S. has made decisive progress. However, the historical, cultural and human depth of racism still permeates all dimensions of life and American society.

Mr. Diène made a list of recommendations to the federal, state and local governments urging them to double their efforts to fight racism and racial discrimination.[1] Many of his recommendations were echoed by several other regional and international human rights bodies who reviewed the United States record on combatting racism, including the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,[2] the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent,[3] the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,[4] as well as the 2010 and 2014 Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR) of the United States.[5]

While the United States’ periodic report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has yet to be submitted—16 months past the deadline—the U.S. expressed its commitment “to fighting racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” in a statement made before the United Nations Third Committee of the General Assembly last November. A U.S. Representative assured other countries that the United States “continues to implement the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.”[6] Furthermore, the United States has conveyed the importance of engaging with international human rights bodies to denounce and fight against racism:

“We work with civil society, international mechanisms, and all nations of goodwill to combat racism and racial discrimination. It is an integral aspect of our aspiration to ‘build a more perfect union.’”

The U.S. has also expressed its support of the current International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), which calls for reparatory justice through the national, regional, and international legal frameworks for generations of involuntary servitude, socioeconomic subjugation, and racial discrimination.

While we appreciate the U.S.’s stated commitment to fighting racism, we believe that commitment ought to manifest itself in tangible actions rather than only words. We are deeply concerned by credible reports indicating a frightening resurgence in white supremacy, which has led to a rise in racism and hate crimes against racial, ethnic, and religious minority communities both in the US and abroad as evidenced by the recent horrific and unspeakable mass murder in New Zealand. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s 2018 annual report on hate and extremism in the United States, there has been “a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone.”[7]

We are equally concerned about the rise of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and anti-immigrant sentiments which have continued to escalate across the United States since the last U.S. presidential election. A May 2018 report released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino found that incidents of hate crimes reached the “highest level in more than a decade” in the largest cities in the United States.[8] A recent report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Contemporary Civil Rights Challenges: A View from the States, affirms that across the country lack of enforcement of civil rights protections on the basis of race and color are a significant concern.[9]

An official visit by the Special Rapporteur on Racism to the United States during this timely season will give her an opportunity to gather information, meet with officials and civil society organizations and directly impacted communities, and offer an assessment and recommendations for effectively fighting the deeply rooted issues of racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of xenophobia and bigotry in the United States.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact:

Rev. Aundreia Alexander, Associate General Secretary for Action and Advocacy at the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA at aundreia.alexander@nationalcouncilofchurches.us or at 202-481-6928 or Mr. Jamil Dakwar, Director of the Human Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties Union either at jdakwar@aclu.org or at 212-519-7850

We thank you in advance for your attention to this letter.

Sincerely,