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UN experts says Arizona law violates international human rights treaty
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0511/experts-arizona-law-violates-international-treaties/
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 -- 9:16 am
Arizona's new law on illegal immigration could violate international standards that are binding in the United States, six U.N. human rights experts said Tuesday.
The basic human rights regulations, signed by the U.S. and many other nations, regard issues such as discrimination and the terms under which a person can be detained, the experts said.
"A disturbing pattern of legislative activity hostile to ethnic minorities and immigrants has been established with the adoption of an immigration law that may allow for police action targeting individuals on the basis of their perceived ethnic origin," the experts said.
Arizona's new sweeping law targeting illegal immigration has provisions that include requiring police enforcing another law to question a person about his or her immigration status, if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the United States illegally. It also makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.
In America, critics have said the law violates the U.S. Constitution's provisions against unreasonable search and seizure and will result in racial profiling of Hispanics. Supporters deny that and say the law will pressure illegal immigrants to leave the country on their own.
Story continues below...
In their statement, the six U.N. experts said: "States are required to respect and ensure the human rights of all persons subject to their jurisdiction, without discrimination."
"Relevant international standards require that detention be used only as an exceptional measure, justified, narrowly tailored and proportional in each individual case, and that it be subject to judicial review," the experts said.
The law could result in potential discrimination against Mexicans, indigenous peoples and other minorities in Arizona, the U.N. officials said.
They also said they are concerned about the enactment of a law prohibiting Arizona school programs featuring the histories and cultures of ethnic minorities because everyone has the right to learn about his own cultural and linguistic heritage.
The six U.N. human rights experts, who are unpaid, are
_Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants Jorge Bustamante of Mexico;
_Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Githu Muigai of Kenya;
_Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people James Anaya of the United States;
_Independent Expert in the field of cultural rights Farida Shaheed of Pakistan;
_Special Rapporteur on the right to education Vernor Munos Villalobos of Costa Rica; and
_Independent Expert on minority issues Gay McDougall of the United States.
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/yucatan/tales/0303yucatan.html
TALES FROM THE YUCATÁN
From 1847 until the early 1900s, the Caste War of the Yucatán made it impossible for a light-skinned person to walk into the eastern Yucatán or the territory of Quintana Roo and come out alive. Only indigenous Maya could safely roam here; any Spanish or Mestizo would be killed on sight. What caused the fierceness of this Maya uprising which lasted over half a century?
No single element alone instigated the rebellion, but as in most revolutions, a long dominated underclass was finally pushed to its limit by an overbearing uberclass that had performed intolerable deeds. These included changing the status of public lands which the Maya used for farming, breaking contracts, and enforcing cruel and unfair work conditions on the local peasants. Added to this was the timing of Mexico's successful break with Spain, which led to numerous changes in the Yucatecan government, including arming the Maya to help fight the Mexican war against the United States in Texas. For the first time ever, the Maya were allowed to own guns.
http://www.amazon.com/Machete-Cross-Campesino-Rebellion-Yucatan/dp/0803217064
The Machete and the Cross: Campesino Rebellion in Yucatan (Hardcover)
Violent class struggles and ethnic conflict mark much of the history of Latin America, continuing in some regions even today. Perhaps the worst and most prolonged of these conflicts was the guerra de las castas or “Caste War,” an Indian rebellion that tore apart the Yucatan Peninsula for much of the nineteenth century (1847–1903).
The struggle was not only ethnic, pitting indigenous peoples against a Hispanic or Hispanicized ruling class, but also economic, involving attacks by rural campesinos on plantation owners, merchants, overseers, and townspeople. The rebels met with sporadic and limited success but still managed at times to remove whole portions of the Yucatan Peninsula from state control.
Don E. Dumond’s work is the anticipated complete history of the Caste War. Drawing on primary sources, he presents the first comprehensive description of this turbulent century of conflict in Yucatan and sets forth a carefully argued analysis of the reasons and broader social, political, and economic processes underlying the struggle.
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0511/experts-arizona-law-violates-international-treaties/
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 -- 9:16 am
Arizona's new law on illegal immigration could violate international standards that are binding in the United States, six U.N. human rights experts said Tuesday.
The basic human rights regulations, signed by the U.S. and many other nations, regard issues such as discrimination and the terms under which a person can be detained, the experts said.
"A disturbing pattern of legislative activity hostile to ethnic minorities and immigrants has been established with the adoption of an immigration law that may allow for police action targeting individuals on the basis of their perceived ethnic origin," the experts said.
Arizona's new sweeping law targeting illegal immigration has provisions that include requiring police enforcing another law to question a person about his or her immigration status, if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the United States illegally. It also makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.
In America, critics have said the law violates the U.S. Constitution's provisions against unreasonable search and seizure and will result in racial profiling of Hispanics. Supporters deny that and say the law will pressure illegal immigrants to leave the country on their own.
Story continues below...
In their statement, the six U.N. experts said: "States are required to respect and ensure the human rights of all persons subject to their jurisdiction, without discrimination."
"Relevant international standards require that detention be used only as an exceptional measure, justified, narrowly tailored and proportional in each individual case, and that it be subject to judicial review," the experts said.
The law could result in potential discrimination against Mexicans, indigenous peoples and other minorities in Arizona, the U.N. officials said.
They also said they are concerned about the enactment of a law prohibiting Arizona school programs featuring the histories and cultures of ethnic minorities because everyone has the right to learn about his own cultural and linguistic heritage.
The six U.N. human rights experts, who are unpaid, are
_Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants Jorge Bustamante of Mexico;
_Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Githu Muigai of Kenya;
_Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people James Anaya of the United States;
_Independent Expert in the field of cultural rights Farida Shaheed of Pakistan;
_Special Rapporteur on the right to education Vernor Munos Villalobos of Costa Rica; and
_Independent Expert on minority issues Gay McDougall of the United States.
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/yucatan/tales/0303yucatan.html
TALES FROM THE YUCATÁN
From 1847 until the early 1900s, the Caste War of the Yucatán made it impossible for a light-skinned person to walk into the eastern Yucatán or the territory of Quintana Roo and come out alive. Only indigenous Maya could safely roam here; any Spanish or Mestizo would be killed on sight. What caused the fierceness of this Maya uprising which lasted over half a century?
No single element alone instigated the rebellion, but as in most revolutions, a long dominated underclass was finally pushed to its limit by an overbearing uberclass that had performed intolerable deeds. These included changing the status of public lands which the Maya used for farming, breaking contracts, and enforcing cruel and unfair work conditions on the local peasants. Added to this was the timing of Mexico's successful break with Spain, which led to numerous changes in the Yucatecan government, including arming the Maya to help fight the Mexican war against the United States in Texas. For the first time ever, the Maya were allowed to own guns.
http://www.amazon.com/Machete-Cross-Campesino-Rebellion-Yucatan/dp/0803217064
The Machete and the Cross: Campesino Rebellion in Yucatan (Hardcover)
Violent class struggles and ethnic conflict mark much of the history of Latin America, continuing in some regions even today. Perhaps the worst and most prolonged of these conflicts was the guerra de las castas or “Caste War,” an Indian rebellion that tore apart the Yucatan Peninsula for much of the nineteenth century (1847–1903).
The struggle was not only ethnic, pitting indigenous peoples against a Hispanic or Hispanicized ruling class, but also economic, involving attacks by rural campesinos on plantation owners, merchants, overseers, and townspeople. The rebels met with sporadic and limited success but still managed at times to remove whole portions of the Yucatan Peninsula from state control.
Don E. Dumond’s work is the anticipated complete history of the Caste War. Drawing on primary sources, he presents the first comprehensive description of this turbulent century of conflict in Yucatan and sets forth a carefully argued analysis of the reasons and broader social, political, and economic processes underlying the struggle.
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