UN expert warns US needs to do more to protect minorities

Protesters call for suffrage in front of the White House in Washington on November 17, 2021 – AFP

The United Nations should reform its legislative framework nationally to guarantee the rights of minorities, a UN expert appointed Monday (22) said.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Affairs, Fernand de Varenz, concludes his two-week visit to the United States.

“One of the key decisions is that the United States stands alone in democracies for recognizing the ‘new agreement’ (…) human rights and its incomplete legislation for their protection,” the official explained at a news conference. .

“The country has an incomplete structure of laws that were first drafted 60 years ago, which shows signs of exhaustion,” de Varens said.

He warned that these shortcomings had led millions of Americans, especially minorities, to experience an increase in “inequality, discrimination and exclusion” and “hate speech and hate crime.”

While the expert praised the federal government’s action against hate speech against Asian Americans, he noted that black society was “among the most marginalized minorities in the country.” African Americans “will not vote in local and federal elections, will be arrested and will not be subjected to hate speech on social media.”

He noted that what could be called “the sabotage of democracy” was, according to his conclusions, “an extraordinary number of legislative actions in various parts of the country with the effect of making it difficult (…) for certain minorities to exercise their right to vote.”

The expert, who will present his final report in a few months, cited Texas in the same context as the division of some electoral districts (known as ‘gerimandering’) in order to dilute the weight of minorities.

Finally, referring to the residents of Puerto Rico, an independent American territory unfit to vote in presidential elections, he expressed concern that the country would continue to have “different levels of citizenship.”

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