New Orleans and Gulf Coast Residents Present Case of Ethnic Cleansing to U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Thursday, February 21, 2008 (Geneva, Switzerland) . . . Today representatives of the United States government will face questioning by the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”) regarding housing assistance programs for predominantly African American displaced residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and other governmental responses.

“The demolition of public housing, the growing number of homeless people, the utter failure of the Road Home Program, the complete disregard of renters, police harassment of African Americans, and racial disparities in flood protection are evidence of ethnic cleansing by our government that abuses the human rights of mostly African American residents of New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region,” said Monique Harden, a New Orleans resident and co-director of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, a public interest law firm. 
 
As part of its ratification of the Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the United States government must periodically report on its compliance with the human rights treaty.  Today, U.S. governmental representatives will be in Geneva, Switzerland to present their report to CERD that responds to a list of questions of concern to the committee.  Among these questions is what the U.S. government has done “to assist those displaced by Hurricane Katrina – most of whom are African American residents – to return to their homes, where feasible, or have access to adequate and affordable housing in the place of habitual residence.” (See Question No. 23, Questions Put by the Special Rapporteur in Connection Periodic Reports of the United States of America, with the Consideration of the Combined 4th, 5th and 6th Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 72nd Session, Feb. 18 – Mar. 7, 2008, available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ 72LOI_USA.pdf.
 
Prior to the US government’s report, groups from New Orleans have traveled to Geneva, where they briefed CERD members on governmental responses to Hurricane Katrina that are racially discriminatory.  Their briefing documents, also known as shadow reports, are available on the official United Nations CERD website and attached to this news release: (1) AEHR, Racial Discrimination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; (2) Critical Resistance, Amnesty for Prisoners of Katrina, and (3) ACLU, Race & Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice. 

  AEHR- Ethnic Cleansing & Racial Discrimination in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 

  ACLU - Race & Ethnicity in America 

  Critical Resistance - Amnesty for Prisoners of Katrina