Racial Discrimination
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Human Rights Organizations Urge International Commission to Review Louisiana Police Violence Case
Tags Share Washington, D.C., June 10, 2025 – Last month, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Louisiana, and the Juror Project filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of Anthony Monroe, a 61-year-old Louisiana resident and victim of police violence, and…
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US police use lethal, military-grade force against Black people and civic space activists: report to UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Police use of lethal force in the United States is on the rise, with more police killings reported in 2024 than any other year on record. This gruesome milestone was reached due to increased access to military-grade weaponry, aggressive suppression of civic space, and the continuation of a historical pattern of violence against Black people.
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RFK Human Rights Submits Evidence to UN Special Rapporteur of Disproportionate, Deadly Policing in the U.S.
Tags Share Washington, D.C., June 6, 2025 – Today, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (“RFK Human Rights”), submitted a detailed report to the Special Rapporteur, an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, highlighting emerging trends and patterns in U.S. law enforcement’s use of lethal force. Submitted ahead of the 80th Session…
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Ending solitary confinement in immigration detention: a guide to litigation and advocacy strategies
Tags Share Egregious abuse of solitary confinement is found throughout the U.S. immigration detention system. From 2017 to 2021, the United States imprisoned immigrants in solitary confinement over 14,500 times. In 2017, the average duration of placement was 33 days; in 2022, the average was 22 days, with a high duration of 242 days. The…
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RFK Human Rights v. Department of Homeland Security: Exposing coercion of unaccompanied children
This case under the Freedom of Information Act seeks to expose the U.S. government’s practice of depriving unaccompanied immigrant children of legal protections from deportation and imprisonment in adult detention centers by destroying their birth certificates, coercing false confessions of adulthood, and falsifying age records through racially biased, pseudo-scientific forensic tests.
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Monroe v. United States: Dismantling barriers to accountability for police brutality
This case seeks to protect the human right to a remedy and reparation for survivors and victims of U.S. police brutality. It asks the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to instruct the United States to reform civil laws to ensure access to civil remedies for people subjected to police brutality.
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Human Rights Groups Urge United Nations Racial Justice Body to Address Legal Barriers for Victims of Police Violence
Tags Share Washington, D.C., April 28, 2025 – Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Louisiana, and the Juror Project submitted a report to a United Nations experts body highlighting legal barriers for victims of police violence who seek civil remedies. The report was submitted ahead…
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Associated Press: Civil rights groups sue to restore jobs at Homeland Security oversight offices that were gutted
Tags Share Three advocacy groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem, seeking to restore staff jobs at three gutted offices that oversee civil rights protections across the department’s broad mission. The lawsuit was filed Thursday by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization, the Southern Border Communities Coalition, and the Urban Justice Center. On March…
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US imposes barriers to accountability for police brutality: report to UN International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement
Receiving Body United Nations International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement (EMLER) Report Type Submission for the Fourth Annual Report to the Human Rights Council Tags Partners
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New York Times: Lawsuit Aims to Reverse Firings at Internal Oversight Offices Within D.H.S.
Tags Share An assortment of advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday aimed at stopping the Department of Homeland Security from permanently shuttering its internal oversight divisions after the Trump administration fired critical staff members, grinding operations to a halt. The lawsuit was filed in New York and brought by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights,…
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ProPublica—Inside ICE Air: Flight Attendants on Deportation Planes Say Disaster Is “Only a Matter of Time”
Tags Share ProPublica reports on human rights abuses on U.S. deportation flights, including RFK Human Rights’ lawsuit on behalf of African asylum-seekers restrained for hours in the Wrap, a cross between a straitjacket and a sleeping bag that one federal judge has called torture. “Flight attendants were told they would fly rock bands, sports teams…
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