The American Civil Liberties Union joined a coalition of civil and human rights groups in sending a letter today to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, asking the committee to urge the United States government to comply with its obligations under international human rights laws and treaties regarding racial discrimination.

The letter asked the committee to urge the U.S. government to adopt a national plan of action for the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), with full and meaningful consultation with civil society and affected communities and in collaboration with local and state governments.

According to the letter, "People of African descent in the United States continue to face intentional, structural, and de facto forms of discrimination which manifest in unequal access to quality education, housing, health services, employment, electoral disfranchisement and discrimination in the criminal justice system, among many other issues."

Read the full press release.
Read the full text of the letter.

On March 7, 2011, President Obama issued an executive order that permits ongoing indefinite detention of Guantánamo detainees while establishing a periodic administrative review process for them. The administration also announced it will lift the ban on bringing new military commissions charges against detainees that don’t already have ongoing cases in the substandard system.

The American Civil Liberties Union has long called for Guantánamo to be shut down and opposes the indefinite detention of prisoners there, some of whom have been imprisoned by the U.S. without charge or trial for nine years. The ACLU has also long called for an end to the illegitimate military commissions and for the government to prosecute terrorism suspects in the federal criminal courts.

The following can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU:

“The best way to get America out of the Guantánamo morass is to use the most effective and reliable tool we have: our criminal justice system. Instead, the Obama administration has done just the opposite and chosen to institutionalize unlawful indefinite detention – creating a troubling ‘new normal’ – and to revive the illegitimate Guantánamo military commissions."

Read the full press release.

The Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH), issued a statement last week stating that he would announce this week whether the House of Representatives will defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court. On February 23, the Obama administration announced the president had concluded that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional and that the Department of Justice would no longer defend the discriminatory law in court.

The following can be attributed to Christopher Anders, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel:

“Because of DOMA, the 80,000 married same-sex American couples living, working and paying taxes across the country face daily discrimination that harms their entire families. We strongly urge the House not to defend what is not only an unconstitutional law but a law that has serious consequences for real people. Instead of defending DOMA, Congress should focus on repealing this unjust statute.”

Read the full press release.
Read more about the ACLU and DOMA.