Human rights and Hurricane Katrina

In the aftermath of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the issue of human rights was studied closely. The UN Human Rights Committee issued a 2006 report recommending that the United States endeavor to make certain the rights of poor and black Americans "are fully taken into consideration in the reconstruction plans with regard to access to housing, education and health care".^[1][2] The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Prison Project also documented mistreatment of the prison population during the flooding.^[3] In 2008, the Institute for Southern Studies, a nonpartisan research center, published a report on "Hurricane Katrina and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement". The study was one of five published by the ISS on the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, and was a collaborative work produced along with the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, co-directed by Walter Kälin, the Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons. The report found that the U.S. government neglected to adhere to "internationally recognized human rights principles the Bush administration has promoted in other countries."^[4] From May to June 2008, United Nations Special Rapporteur Doudou Diène was invited by the U.S. government to visit and study racial discrimination in the U.S. Diène's 2008 report was delivered to the United Nations Human Rights Council and was published in 2009.^[5]

See also

• New Orleans diaspora

References

1. Klapper, Bradley (2006-07-28). "U.N. Panel Takes U.S. to Task Over Katrina". AP Online (The America's Intelligence Wire).
2. 26. The Committee, while taking note of the various rules and regulations prohibiting discrimination in the provision of disaster relief and emergency assistance, remains concerned about information that poor people and in particular African-Americans, were disadvantaged by the rescue and evacuation plans implemented when Hurricane Katrina hit the United States of America, and continue to be disadvantaged under the reconstruction plans. (articles 6 and 26) The State party should review its practices and policies to ensure the full implementation of its obligation to protect life and of the prohibition of discrimination, whether direct or indirect, as well as of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, in the areas of disaster prevention and preparedness, emergency assistance and relief measures. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it should increase its efforts to ensure that the rights of poor people and in particular African-Americans, are fully taken into consideration in the reconstruction plans with regard to access to housing, education and healthcare. The Committee wishes to be informed about the results of the inquiries into the alleged failure to evacuate prisoners at the Parish prison, as well as the allegations that New Orleans residents were not permitted by law enforcement officials to cross the Greater New Orleans Bridge to Gretna, Louisiana. See: "Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on the Second and Third U.S. Reports to the Committee (2006).". Human Rights Committee. University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. 2006-07-28.
3. "Hurricane Katrina and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement" (PDF). Institute for Southern Studies. January 2008. pp. 18–19. Retrieved 2009-05-18. See also: Sothern, Billy (2006-01-02). "Left to Die". The Nation. pp. 19–22.
4. "Report says U.S. Katrina response fails to meet its own human rights principles.". New Orleans CityBusiness. 2008-01-16. See also: "Hurricane Katrina and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement" (PDF). Institute for Southern Studies. January 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
5. "Report of the Special Rapporteur". United Nations Human Rights Council. 28 April 2009. pp. Thirty. Retrieved 2009-05-24.

Further reading

• Alter, Jonathan (2004-09-19). "The Other America". Special Report (Newsweek). Retrieved 2009-05-20.
• Bullard, Robert; Beverly Wright (2009). Race, Place, and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-4424-7.
• Fletcher, Laurel E.; Phuong Pham; Eric Stover; Patric Vinck (March 2007). "Latino Workers and Human Rights in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina" (PDF). Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law (Boalt Hall School of Law) 28 (1): 107–162. ISSN 0046-8185. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2011.
• Goldman, Lynn. Christine Coussens, Institute of Medicine. (2007) Environmental public health impacts of disasters: Hurricane Katrina. National Academies Press. ISBN 0-309-10500-5
• Levitt, Jeremy; Matthew C. Whitaker (2009). Hurricane Katrina: America's Unnatural Disaster. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1760-9.
• "Natural Disasters and the Rule of Law". Human Rights: Journal of the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities (ABA Publishing) 33 (4). Fall 2006. ISSN 0046-8185. Editorial board This issue has eight articles devoted to a discussion of human rights and Katrina.
• Rebuilding After Katrina: A Population-based Study of Labor and Human Rights. Payson Center, International Law Clinic, and the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley Special Report. Laurel Fletcher, Phuong Pham, Eric Stover, and Patrick Vinck. June 2006
• Quigley, William; Sharda Sekaran (2007). "A Call for the Right to Return in the Gulf Coast". In Soohoo, Cynthia; Albisa, Catherine; Davis, Martha F. Bringing Human Rights Home: Portraits of the Movement III. Praeger Publishers. pp. 291–304. ISBN 0-275-98824-4.
• Sothern, Billy (2006-01-02). "Left to Die". The Nation. pp. 19–22.