ACLU Applauds Recommendations And Demands Immediate Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
GENEVA—A United Nations committee today issued a strongly worded critique of the United States’ record on racial discrimination and urged the government to make sweeping reforms to policies and laws affecting racial and ethnic minorities, women, and immigrants in this country. The ACLU called on the U.S. government to take vigorous steps to implement the committee’s recommendations and fulfill its human rights treaty obligations.
“The message from the U.N. human rights committee is clear when it comes to the U.S.’ record on human rights and racial equality – the government can’t just talk the talk but must also walk the walk,” said Jamil Dakwar, Advocacy Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program. “To claim the high moral ground and assert leadership on the issue of human rights, the U.S government must address the systemic discrimination and injustice that exists in its own backyard.”
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union were in Geneva last month to testify before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the state of racial and ethnic discrimination in the U.S. The CERD committee, which oversees compliance with an international treaty to end racial discrimination that was ratified by the U.S. in 1994, reviewed testimony and comprehensive “shadow reports” by the ACLU and other human rights groups before issuing its final report.
Among its recommendations, the committee called on the U.S. to:

• Ban all ethnic and racial profiling practices by federal, state and local law enforcement officers;
• Address the problem of school-to-prison pipeline – the problematic trend of funneling many minority children into prison – and encourage affirmative action programs;
• Develop non-penal alternatives to detention to decrease the number of migrants and immigrants in detention;
• Ensure that all non-citizens detained or arrested in the fight against terrorism are properly protected by domestic law that complies with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law;
• Pass legislation enabling all citizens to vote upon release from incarceration;
• Cease construction of the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico;
• Address violence against Native, minority and immigrant women, especially women who are migrant workers and domestic workers; and
• Pass legislation and enforce labor laws to protect migrant workers from racial discrimination.

Also in Geneva today, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamante presented a report on the injustices faced by migrants and immigrants in the U.S., citing immigrant detention policies and facilities that fail to meet international standards and have few protections for the rights of migrant workers.
Last year, Bustamante conducted a three-week fact finding mission at the request of the U.S. government, visiting a detention center in Arizona and meeting with migrant communities, immigrant rights advocates and government officials in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, New York and Washington D.C.. During that time Bustamante was denied entrance to New Jersey’s Monmouth County Correctional Institution and  Texas’s Hutto immigration detention center, a converted prison that houses about 400 immigrants [check the number], including children and asylum seekers. In 2007, the ACLU filed successful federal lawsuits on behalf of 12 children detained at the Hutto facility, charging that the children were subject to inhumane treatment. The U.S. has a history of blocking international experts from access to controversial detention facilities.
“Racially discriminatory practices are still rampant in New Mexico, most notably in the continued practice of local police enforcement of immigration laws,” according to Maria Nape, director of the ACLU of New Mexico’s Southern Regional Office and Border Rights Project.   “Racial profiling and blatant constitutional violations against our immigrant communities should not be tolerated.  We will continue to urge governments at every level to adopt humane policies that do not unfairly target racial or ethnic minorities.”
The Special Rapporteur’s report highlights eliminating mandatory detention of undocumented immigrants and determining whether non-citizens pose a risk to society on a case-by-case basis; and allowing immigrants in detention the chance to have their custody reviewed before an immigration judge.
The ACLU’s report on the state of racial discrimination in the U.S. and other relevant documents can be found online here:www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/racialjustice/cerd.html

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Groups to Mobilize Community Against Proposed Partnership with CHRISTUS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 5, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
SANTA FE—A coalition of community organizations on Wednesday announced its opposition to the proposed partnership between St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS Health after St. Vincent Hospital refused to share details of the partnership agreement, which they claim would protect family planning and end-of-life care at the hospital.
“Because of St. Vincent Hospital’s ongoing refusal to be transparent and to provide written, legally binding assurances to the community, we must oppose this partnership,” Diane Wood, director of the Northern Regional Office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWWLC), another coalition member, agreed.
“The only promises that matter are those in the final contract between CHRISTUS, St. Vincent and SupportCo,” said SWWLC Executive Director, Jane Wishner. “Promises on a Web site, in a press release, at a public meeting or in a letter to advocates are not binding; what matters is what the parties agree to in writing with each other.”
Over the past month, the coalition – which includes the ACLU of New Mexico, Southwest Women’s Law Center, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, Compassion & Choices, New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Center, Equality New Mexico, The MergerWatch Project, and The National Women’s Law Center –  met with the St. Vincent Hospital Board of Directors, held a community meeting, and gathered nearly 700 signatures from concerned community members all in an effort to get St. Vincent Hospital to share its partnership agreement with the community.
The coalition formed over concerns that a partnership between St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS, a Dallas-based Catholic health cooperation, would compromise family planning and end-of-life care at the Santa Fe hospital because they would be required to follow the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives. Hospital officials have repeatedly told coalition members that those services would be provided, but have refused to share the specifics.
“St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS Health want us to trust them that family planning services will still be provided under the proposed partnership,” said Heather Brewer, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, “but I am more comfortable trusting women, their families and their physicians to decide which health care options they want and need.”
Coalition partners now plan to undertake a public education campaign to increase public opposition to the partnership.
“We are now urging Northern New Mexicans to write letters to the board members of St. Vincent Hospital to voice their concerns,” Wood said.  “We will be working with the community to educative and build opposition to this merger.”

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Coalition Wants the Hospital to Make a Commitment to the Community that They Will Share Details of Partnership Agreement with the Public

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 29, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
SANTA FE - In a letter sent to the St. Vincent Hospital Board of Directors on Wednesday, a coalition of community groups called on board members to tell the public by March 4th whether the hospital will share details of its proposed partnership agreement with Catholic-run CHRISTUS Health and how that partnership would affect the provision of family planning, reproductive health services, and end-of-life care at the hospital.
“We have recommended specific contractual language, have requested an opportunity to review the relevant documents, and have asked when the Board will be asked to approve the final agreement and have gotten no answers from St. Vincent.  The community has a right to know what healthcare will be available after this Partnership is finalized.”  Jane Wishner, Executive Director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center, who signed the letter with the ACLU of New Mexico, submitted to the St. Vincent Board on Wednesday.
The coalition of community groups last week held a town hall meeting at which more than 100 people expressed their concerns about the partnership. On Tuesday, coalition group leaders met with the board and presented them with a petition signed by more than 500 community members calling on the hospital to share the details of the partnership agreement.
“We’re asking St. Vincent, as a community hospital, to make a commitment to the community they serve that they will be open and transparent and that they will share the details of the partnership agreement with the public so that everyone can be sure that quality family planning, reproductive health services, and end-of-life care will be available at St. Vincent Hospital,” said Heather Brewer Executive Director of NARAL Pro Choice New Mexico. “We’re not saying this is a bad deal. We’re saying we need it in writing.”
Members of the coalition include: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, Southwest Women’s Law Center, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist – New Mexico Section, Compassion & Choices, Equality New Mexico, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, Inc., New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, and The MergerWatch Project.

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