DEPARTURE STATEMENT
BY THE U.S. DELEGATION

REGULAR REPORT TO THE ICCPR’S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

JULY 17-18, 2006

Today, the United States completed a two-day dialogue with the Human Rights Committee, the international body charged with reviewing implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).  The U.S. welcomed the chance to address the questions of the Committee regarding the U.S. periodic report on its implementation of this preeminent treaty on human rights.  Head of delegation Matthew Waxman, Principal Deputy Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, and Wan Kim, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, led the dialogue on behalf of the United States, whose delegation included more than 20 U.S. officials.

At this meeting the United States showed its commitment to be as transparent as possible in addressing its record of protecting and promoting civil and political liberties. The U.S. delegation shared information about how its system of robust checks and balances – with strong legislatures, free press, and civil society actors, and an independent judiciary – provides the strongest basis for the protection of civil and political rights.  That system was indeed a model for the drafting of the ICCPR.

The United States aims to hold itself to the highest standards.  The dialogue with the Human Rights Committee was an opportunity to continue the ongoing process of fulfilling the U.S. commitment to what President Bush has termed the “non-negotiable demands of human dignity” and to U.S. obligations under the Covenant.