[child-rights] Children's rights at the UN Commission on Human Rights

Press release

April 6, 2004

Local human rights group testifies before the 60th Session of the
Commission on Human Rights to urge the US to defend children's rights
and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child

(Geneva) -As world leaders convene in Geneva for the 60th session of the
Commission on Human Rights this week, New York's children will have a
global advocate in Geneva to voice the urgent situation of child poverty
in New York City.

The commission which meets annually in Geneva to discuss global human
rights violations rarely hears about violations within the U.S. but this
year the Human Rights Project of the Urban Justice Center, a New York
City based non-governmental organization, has sent a representative to
Geneva to urge U.N. delegates to hold the U.S. accountable for
violations within its own borders and join the rest of the world and
ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Delegate Ejim Dike
will testify on behalf of the 12.1 million children who live in poverty
right here in the U.S., the three million single mothers who had no work
in 2003, and the millions of children making up homeless families.

The U.S. consistently claims domestic laws provide sufficient protection
for children in the U.S. but if you ask Ronaldo Bini of  Parents in
Action, New York's laws do little to protect children. "New York's
children's protective services kidnapped my child for 71/2 months with
no due process and no legitimate claim against me."  More recently the
New York State foster care system failed to protect children from
exploitative and harmful practices and was forced to investigate the use
of HIV infected infants and children in a foster care agency as "guinea
pigs" in potentially dangerous drug research.

In New York City, 97% of children in foster care are black or Latino and
disproportionately bare the brunt of abusive practices--another
violation of human rights under the International Convention on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which the U.S. has ratified and is
compelled to obligate.

In the 2004 U.S State report on Human Rights violations,  U.S. Secretary
General Colin Powell charged that "the country reports for 2003 confirms
that many -- too many -- governments across the globe still violate the
most basic rights of their citizens" yet the U.S. federal government
fails to recognize basic rights, such as education, health care, and an
adequate standard of living in its own federal constitution and
blatantly exempts itself from International treaties and norms that
protect these basic economic, social and cultural rights.

In a statement made today before the Commission on Human Rights, Ejim
Dike of the Human Rights Project said "We are heartened to see the US
issue a press statement asserting that this year, it would focus on
upholding international scrutiny of human rights violators.  However, we
say that such scrutiny should begin at home."

The chance a child in the US will break the cycle of poverty is severely
limited by the lack of all-encompassing quality schooling in the US.  In
particular, huge disparities based on race continue to exist in the
education system.  Only 50% of all black, Hispanic and Native American
teenagers graduate from high school.  In contrast, the graduation rate
for white students is 75 %.  According to a special New York report
issued by the UN's Special Rapporteur on Education, the one key lever
for reforming education is significantly increased federal funding, and
that does not seem to be imminent in current budget negotiations.

Dike urged the U.S. to "put the welfare of children at the center of its
policies, and the UN to take the bold step of holding the US accountable
for human rights violations within the US and around the world."

U.S. NGO participation at this years' commission meeting has increased
and mirrors a nationwide movement to hold the US government accountable
to human rights violations within their own borders.  In December, a
nationwide group of US Human Rights activists launched the US Human
Rights Network to monitor and react to a wide range of human rights
violations in the US, the Human Rights Project is a founding member of
this network.


For further information call the Human Rights Project of the Urban
Justice Center at 646-602-5630 or rortega@urbanjustice.org



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