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Representatives of national civil rights
organizations and community groups based in the Gulf Coast appeared
before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Mar. 3, 2006, to
allege that the U.S. government's response to Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita has contravened internationally recognized human rights norms. In
particular, the hurricane survivors and advocates presented testimony
delineating the ways in which the government's disaster planning,
immediate response, and ongoing recovery and reconstruction efforts
violated the rights of low-income African American and immigrant
communities under international law. The hearing, which took place six
months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast
region, was granted in response to a request from 27 organizations,
including the National Immigration Law Center. A copy of the letter
requesting a hearing is available
here.
The Inter-American Commission is an
independent human rights body established by the Organization of
American States, an international organization comprised of countries in
the Americas. The commission's functions include monitoring
governments' conduct and making recommendations intended to promote
respect for and defense of human rights.
Roxanna Altholz of the International Human
Rights Law Clinic at the University of California at Berkeley opened the
hearing by emphasizing the need to protect the human rights of victims
of natural disasters. Testimony was presented by Jessica Wyndham of the
Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement; Victoria Cintra of the
Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance; Leah Hodges of the Causeway
Concentration Camp Foundation; and Monique Harden of Advocates for
Environmental Human Rights. Wyndham gave an overview of the
international legal framework that applies in disaster settings,
including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement, which require governments to provide basic humanitarian
assistance to all survivors regardless of their immigration status. The
applicable international norms provide a yardstick by which to measure
the U.S. government's response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes. As the
advocates who spoke after Wyndham plainly established, the U.S.
government's conduct has fallen short of the protections afforded to
survivors of natural disasters.
Cintra emphasized that many immigrant
populations were not adequately warned of the threat posed by the
hurricanes because evacuation orders and hurricane advisories were
issued only in English. She also noted that the government's failure to
assure all survivors that they could safely seek emergency aid
regardless of their immigration status, coupled with increased
immigration enforcement following the hurricanes, deterred many
immigrants and refugees from coming forward. This omission contrasted
sharply with the assurances against deportation provided to the
immigrant community in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy and after
Hurricane Charley hit Florida in 2004. (For more information, see “Administration's Failure to Reassure Leads to
Fear, Isolation, and Hardship in Immigrant Communities Affected by
Hurricanes,”
Immigrants' Rights Update, Oct. 21, 2005, pp. 45.) In some
cases, Cintra reported, the American Red Cross, a federal
instrumentality, flatly denied assistance to foreign-born individuals.
Hodges's and Harden's testimony highlighted
the impact of the hurricanes on African American communities and the
importance of consultation with the affected populations during
long-term recovery and reconstruction. Hodges described the harrowing
conditions to which she and other African Americans who fled their
flooded homes and neighborhoods in New Orleans had been subjected while
detained for four days by the U.S. military at a highway exit. Harden
discussed federal, state, and local proposals to reduce the size of New
Orleans in a way that would wipe out historically African American
neighborhoods. She also noted that upcoming elections in New Orleans
have been organized in a way that will preclude the primarily African
American displaced population from voting from the locations where they
are currently living. In addition, she discussed the unfounded
stigmatization of African Americans in New Orleans as criminals, which
has resulted in violent acts against them by armed vigilantes and law
enforcement officials and has discouraged African Americans from seeking
temporary housing in certain neighborhoods. Harden concluded by
emphasizing the need for a comprehensive plan for assisting hurricane
survivors, akin to the U.S. Agency for International Development's
policy for responding to overseas disasters.
Many of the advocates also addressed the U.S.
government's violations of the rights of workers involved in
reconstruction efforts. Only days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf
Coast, President George Bush suspended application of the Davis-Bacon
Act, which requires the payment of the local prevailing wage for work
performed under federal contracts. The administration also issued a
notice informing employers in the hurricane-damaged areas that the U.S.
Dept. of Homeland Security would refrain from enforcing the employer
sanctions provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which
prohibit employers from knowingly hiring workers who are not eligible to
be employed in the U.S. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) waived enforcement of health and safety
regulations in areas affected by the hurricanes. These OSHA regulations
remain suspended in the areas that suffered the greatest damage.
As rebuilding began and the demand for workers
in the construction trades exploded, federal contractors and
subcontractors have consequently been able to exploit workers, including
thousands of Latino immigrants who were lured to the area under false
pretenses, with little oversight or accountability. Reconstruction
workers have reported a litany of violations, including underpayment and
nonpayment of wages, egregious violations of health and safety
standards, and failure to provide workers' compensation insurance for
job-related injuries. To date, the U.S. Dept. of Labor's enforcement
efforts remain woefully inadequate. Indeed, of all the federal laws
that apply to workers (and employers) in the region, only immigration
laws have been consistently enforced, as U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers have conducted opportunistic raids of Gulf Coast
reconstruction worksites.
The hearing participants asked the commission
to undertake an immediate, on-site visit to the Gulf Coast to
investigate the human rights issues discussed during the hearing and in
the written submissions of the advocates. Following such an
investigation, the participants called on the commission to formulate
recommendations to the U.S. government delineating the steps necessary
to bring its natural disaster planning, response, and reconstruction
into compliance with its international human rights obligations.
By
Melissa Crow,
Katrina policy attorney
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