U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
Media Note: For Immediate Release, August 11, 2014
U.S. Delegation to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The United States is pleased to announce a broad senior-level interagency delegation that will appear before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on August 13 and 14 in Geneva to present its 2013 periodic report on the implementation of U.S. obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Ambassador Keith Harper, U.S. Representative to the UN Human Rights Council, will head the delegation. He will be accompanied by senior U.S. officials from the Departments of State, Justice, Education, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Labor, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, four representatives from U.S. state and local governments will be part of the delegation. The full delegation list can be found here.
The delegation will make a presentation and take questions from the Committee on a broad range of issues, including racial profiling; racial disparities with respect to criminal justice, education, housing, health care, and employment; voting rights; treatment of Native Americans and members of other racial and ethnic minorities; and immigration policy. After the presentation, the Committee will release a set of concluding observations and recommendations to the United States related to these issues.
The United States takes human rights and its treaty obligations seriously. The 2013 periodic report and the large senior-level delegation sent by the United States to the Committee demonstrate this. This human rights treaty presentation provides a vital opportunity to demonstrate to the world our country’s commitment to protecting human rights domestically through our comprehensive system of laws, policies, and programs. Our participation in the treaty reporting process also encourages other governments to seriously engage in this process, which helps support the protection of human rights globally.
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