We are always looking for new and creative ways, in addition to filing traditional court cases, to deal with key issues such as the improper deportation of refugees or the U.S. government’s efforts to limit access to the judicial process. Our two recent filings with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, one of which produced a rare and ground-breaking “Precautionary Order” (akin to an injunction in U.S. courts) to prevent an unlawful deportation, are examples of how we use international advocacy to achieve desired results.
Human Rights USA filed a successful petition with the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to prevent the imminent deportation of one of our refugee clients. Working with the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University, Washington College of Law, we secured a “Provisional Measures” (injunction) order from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, stopping the unlawful deportation of a refugee while the appeal of his deportation order was still pending in U.S. federal court. In addition, in January, 2007, we filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights challenging the provisions of the Military Commissions Act that grant immunity to US officials for torture abuses and limit judicial challenges under the Geneva Conventions.
With an informal working group of civil rights and civil liberties organizations in the U.S., we also issue comprehensive “shadow reports” on each of the major human rights treaties the U.S. has ratified: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1995 and 2006; the Convention Against Torture in 1998 and 2006; and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2001. Our reporting assists the United Nations bodies that oversee these treaties in their determination of whether the U.S. is meeting its treaty obligations, and helps to increase public awareness about these issues.
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