Guantánamo hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

In this issue: Guantánamo hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights   Join the Fight for Justice!   Join us for a special presentation followed by a panel discussion: UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese   The Descendants Project calls on U.S. government to support community demands at UN Treaty negotiations   ICYMI: Special screening of Jim Crow Convictions     Guantánamo hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights  On Friday, Oct 28, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET, we will be joining the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) to appear before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) during its 185th Period of Sessions for a hearing on the current situation at the Guantánamo Bay prison. U.S. government officials will also participate. The virtual hearing will be streamed on the IACHR's official Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts. In 2002, at the request of the Center for Constitutional Rights and CEJIL, the IACHR put in place Precautionary Measures that would protect the rights of detained men, including the right to be treated as prisoners of war and to be free from arbitrary, incommunicado, and prolonged detention, unlawful interrogations, and trials by military commission in which they could be sentenced to the death. The purpose of the hearing is for experts to share with the Commission and the public the current status of these precautionary measures and engage with the United States concerning concrete steps for compliance: in particular, for the closure of Guantánamo. Read more about our Guantánamo advocacy before the IACHR.     Join the Fight for Justice!  In 2016 the Center for Constitutional Rights launched the MICHAEL RATNER CAMPAIGN FOR THE NEXT GENERATION, rooted in the values that have always guided us and aimed for a future as strong as our past. We are beyond grateful to those who continue to support the Next Generation Campaign. For those of you who knew Michael, you know how deeply he was invested in training future movement lawyers. We honor Michael and his special gift for mentoring the next generation in our Ella Baker Internship Program and our Bertha Justice Fellows Program. Our success in advancing the future of movement lawyering is only possible thanks to your partnership. Join us today here: Build the next generation. All new Justice Sustainer monthly donors will receive a free copy of Michael’s inspirational autobiography, Moving the Bar. Justice must be built forward. Help build a future of fierce movement lawyers. Give now. Thank you!     Join us for a special presentation followed by a panel discussion: UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese  On Monday, October 24, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., join the Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, and the Center for Constitutional Rights for an in-person presentation at Columbia Law School by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion by legal and policy experts in the field. For more information, visit our website.     The Descendants Project calls on U.S. government to support community demands at UN Treaty negotiations  Cancer Alley fenceline community leaders, and close partner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Descendants Project, made this remote intervention at the UN in Geneva, calling on the US Government to play a constructive role in the negotiations to develop a binding Treaty to stop corporate human rights abuses.  A large transnational coalition of social movement and civil society organizations from around the world have pushed for an international treaty for over 40 years, and countries have worked hard for eight years to produce this draft treaty. Despite this, last year the US Government attended this UN discussions for the first time and called on countries to abandon negotiation on the text of the proposed treaty – a position that was received as disrespectful to frontline movement groups and other countries alike. The Descendants Project is calling on the U.S. government to do better. Communities like theirs deserve nothing less. Watch the video on our YouTube page.     ICYMI: Special screening of Jim Crow Convictions   On a beautiful Thursday evening in New Orleans, we held the spirit of freedom, hope, and justice together as we envisioned an end to the harmful legacy of Jim Crow juries in Louisiana.  Many thanks to our panelists – Angelo Guisado, Jamila Johnson, Jeremy Young, and our moderator, Nadia Ben-Youssef. Special thanks to Brandon Jackson for not only sharing his story with us but for also inviting us into his vision of the future.  Jamila Johnson reminded us that despite the 2020 Supreme Court decision in Ramos v. Louisiana declaring non-unanimous juries unconstitutional, the lack of retroactivity means that mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and friends remain in prison, an existence she described as “such pain and such suffering that if we don’t highlight it and if we don’t lift it up… a lot of unnecessary suffering that we could stop, goes on.”  If you were unable to attend the screening but would like to watch and share the documentary and discussion, you can find the full documentary on the Fault Lines Webpage and the recording of our community discussion on our Youtube Page.  To learn more about our work with Promise of Justice Initiative and efforts to release all those convicted of non-unanimous juries, check out our case page.