Amnesty International USA

WHEREAS the International Secretariat issued a statement on September 9, 2005 concerning human rights issues associated with the devastation in the Gulf Coast associated with Hurricane Katrina;

WHEREAS the Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International USA held in Seattle, Washington passed in 2002 a resolution stating that all of AIUSA’s work should consider racism as a central feature, a resolution that was introduced to the AGM after having been presented to and passed by the passed by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference that same year; and

WHEREAS Amnesty International USA has conducted a significant campaign against racial profiling; and

WHEREAS own-country investigatory endeavors for AIUSA, including work on the death penalty, racial profiling and police brutality in Pittsburgh, PA and in Prince George’s County, Maryland, has adequate precedence and has helped to reduce human rights violations in these arenas; and

WHEREAS New Orleans in particular has a checkered history of racism, racial profiling, police brutality, and political corruption, coupled with high poverty levels; and

WHEREAS race and class are intertwined phenomena often associated with victims of human rights abuses; and

WHEREAS there is substantial anecdotal information suggesting that some residents were deprived of their human rights during the initial evacuation, during the stay at the Convention Center and the Superdome, during the later evacuation, and during the ongoing recovery period; and

WHEREAS there is considerable concern that redevelopment of New Orleans and other Katrina-damaged areas may fail to include an adequate role for African Americans; and

WHEREAS “full spectrum” human rights advocacy includes race and class issues as important components of economic, social and cultural rights; and

WHEREAS AI has called for a full independent inquiry into whether authorities could have done more to ensure the safety of the affected population and what should have been done to facilitate its recovery;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Amnesty International USA calls for the creation of a commission, similar to the 9/11 commission, which will conduct a full, independent, and non-partisan investigation of human rights violations related to Hurricane Katrina including a careful assessment of the role of race, racism, racial profiling, economic and social standing, poverty, physical and mental disabilities, age, and historic and current racial discrimination in causing such violations, documenting any human rights abuses and issuing a report of the findings;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Amnesty International USA will request that the IS conduct an investigation of human rights violations related to Hurricane Katrina, such investigation to include a careful and thorough assessment of the role of race, racism, racial profiling, economic, physical and mental disabilities, age, and social standing, poverty, and historic and current racial discrimination in causing such violations, and will issue a report documenting any such verified human rights abuses and disseminate it nationally and internationally.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the AIUSA Board of Directors ask the IS to call for the United Nations to monitor the US investigation of the Katrina disaster and submit a report on its findings to the UN General Assembly.