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<font size=3>From:<a href="mailto:swillis818@aol.com">
</a><a href="mailto:swillis818@aol.com">swillis818@aol.com</a><br><br>
<br>
Subject: UNITED STATES POLITICAL PRISONERS <br><br>
We Must Put Political-Prisoner/Prisoner of War Issue back on the
International Human Rights Agenda<br>
Attached for sign-on is a 10 page cluster report on Political
Prisoners/Prisoners of War, which will be submitted to the Office of High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as part of the Universal Periodic
Review of the United States.<br><br>
<br>
</font><h2><b>The U.S. Senate “Church Committee” made factual findings
that massive human rights violations had been committed against US
citizens based on race, political ideas, and political affiliations. In
the final reports of the Committee, a permanent means of congressional
review was recommended, but there were no recommendations that addressed
the human rights violations suffered by dozens of political prisoners who
had been victimized by the U.S. government’s political repression against
African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Native American communities. Such
repression resulted in murders, injuries, false arrests, malicious
prosecutions and lengthy imprisonments of scores of political activists.
Many of these political prisoners and prisoners of war still languish in
prisons throughout the United States. U.S. political prisoners have
languished in U.S. prisons for decades under cruel and inhumane
conditions. Several have died in prisons; others have endured years
of solitary confinement, poor medical health care, and perfunctory parole
hearings resulting in routine denial of release.</b></h2><font size=3>The
Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new human rights mechanism
established in 2006, which allows the United Nations Human Rights Council
to periodically review all the Member States (countries) of the United
Nations on their fulfillment of human rights obligations and commitments.
The U.N.’s first Universal Periodic Review of the U.S., scheduled to take
place on November 26, 2010, offers an important opportunity both to
measure how the U.S. is meeting its human rights obligations and to
continue pressuring the government to live up to those obligations.<br>
<br>
Every four years, the UPR assesses each country’s adherence to its human
rights obligations under the U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR), human rights treaties ratified by the country, its
voluntary commitments, and applicable international law. Reviews
are conducted by the URP Working Group, which consists of 47 members of
the U.N. Human Rights Council.<br>
<br>
During the review, in addition to the “national report” provided by the
country under review and the reports of U.N. bodies, the Working Group
considers reports from other “stakeholders” such as civil society,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and national human rights
institutions. Stakeholders’ reports are limited to 5 pages for individual
organizations and 10 pages for coalitions of organizations(also called
“cluster reports”).<br>
<br>
We have drafted a stakeholders’cluster report on Political
Prisoners/Prisoners of War. Stakeholders’ submissions must be sent
to the UN by April 19, 2010 at 6:00am (EST)- 12:00pm Geneva time (CET).
The official United States Government report for the UPR is due by August
2010.<br>
<br>
As this is the first UPR review if the U.S., it is crucial for us to
become engaged in the process, providing our perspective on how the U.S.
is meeting its human rights obligations.<br>
<br>
In hopes of maximizing the impact of this report, we are soliciting
sign-ons from additional organizations and individuals. IF YOU AND/OR
YOUR ORGANIZATION ARE INTERESTED IN SIGNING ON TO THIS REPORT, PLEASE
REPLY TO THIS EMAIL BY APRIL 7, 2010. Please indicate your full name and
/organizational affiliation as you would like it to appear. Please note
that there is no limit to the number of cluster reports that an
organization can sign onto.<br>
<br>
If you have any questions, you can contact me directly.<br>
<br>
In Struggle,<br>
<br>
Stan Kwame Willis<br>
<br>
(312) 750-1950<br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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