Message to Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Michael H. Posner
Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
 
Dear Mr. Posner,
 
As a broad coalition of organizations representing affected communities from Alaska to Florida, we are writing to you on this International Human Rights Day to bring to your attention a critical human rights issue taking place here in the United States and around the world: that of human rights violations perpetrated by the six largest agrochemical transnational corporations. These corporations - in particular the six largest pesticide corporations - Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, DuPont, Bayer, and BASF - continue to produce, market, and profit from highly hazardous pesticides that have serious human health, livelihood, and environmental impacts, and to do so in direct violation of the precepts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other human rights instruments.
 
In December of last year, affected communities around the world who have been harmed by these six corporations presented their cases of human rights violations to the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) Session on Agrochemical Transnational Corporations. They included:Voices from Arctic Indigenous Peoples, who have had their ways of life, including their traditional foods, practices, and livelihoods, contaminated and threatened by pesticide pollution that travels to the Arctic from around the world through a process known as global distillation;

Voices from the Midwestern United States, where farmers’ livelihoods are being threated by the Monsanto corporation’s harassment and persecution of farmers; And voices from Florida, where African-American farmworkers who used to work on vegetable farms around one of the most polluted lakes in the United States are suffering from multiple chronic illnesses while still awaiting aid for the egregious health harms they suffered, years after these farms were shut down for their enormous impact on the environment and wildlife; as well as dozens of other cases around the world. The full indictment brought forward to the PPT is attached here. 

After hearing these cases, an esteemed jury of international experts pronounced these six corporations – along with the governments of the United States, Switzerland, and Germany - guilty of “gross, widespread, and systematic violations” of human rights. This verdict (attached) was handed down one year ago, on December 6, 2011. We have yet to see the US government act to protect the rights of its people and of the global community from violations by corporations based right here in the United States.
 
We look now to your office as the bearer of an immense responsibility - protecting and promoting democracy, human rights, and the rights of labor - and urge you to take decisive action based on your mandate and the global human rights crises that are clearly being perpetrated daily by the pesticide industry, to signal that the US will play a leadership role in addressing these egregious violations.
 
We therefore request a meeting with you and your key staff to discuss the role of your office in addressing this pressing issue at the national and international level. We also respectfully request a written response to this letter by January 10, 2013 (please address to Devika Ghai at (devika@panna.org). We look forward to working with you.
 
Signed and endorsed by the following governments and organizations:

Eddie Ungott, Tribal President, Native Village of Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska; USA
Mitchell Kiyuklook, Tribal President, Native Village of Savoonga, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska;
USA
Pamela Miller, Vi Waghiyi, and Heather McCausland, Alaska Community Action on Toxics;
USA
Maria Elena Rosa, Alianza por una major Calidad de Vida; Chile
Alicia Koutsoulieris, Amnesty International Chapter 519; International
Rahmat Ajiguna, Asian Peasants Coalition; Asia
Lisa Arkin, Beyond Toxics; USA
Paige Tomaselli, Center for Food Safety; USA
Lucille Bertuccio, Center for Sustainable Living; USA
Denise Diaz, Central Florida Jobs with Justice; USA
Barbara Warren, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition; USA
Kathleen A. Curtis, LPN, Clean and Healthy New York; USA
John Harris, Community Alliance for Positive Solutions; Australia
Suad Eltayeb Ahmed, Community Development Association; Sudan
Y. Armando Nieto, Community Food & Justice Coalition; USA
Thomas Kerns, PhD, Environment and Human Rights Advisory; USA
Jeannie Economos, Farmworker Association of Florida; USA
Maria Rodriguez, Florida Immigrant Coalition; USA
JoAnn Lo, Food Chain Workers Alliance; USA
Lauren Ornelas, Food Empowerment Project; USA
Carleen Pickard, Global Exchange; USA
Masahiro Watarida, Globalization Watch Hiroshima; Japan
Rick Hind, Greenpeace; International
Naji Kodeih, PhD, IndyACT; Lebanon
Laura Carro-Klingholz, PhD, Initiative Mexiko; Mexico / Germany
Andrea Carmen, International Indian Treaty Council; International
Manny Calonzo & Olga Speranskaya, IPEN*; International
Sena Alouka, Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement; Togo
Jose T. Bravo, Just Transition Alliance; USA
Wilfredo Marbella, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilpinas (KMP); Philippines
Navina Khanna, Live Real; USA
Gregory Schell, Migrant Farmworker Justice Project, Florida Legal Services, Inc.; USA
Dorothy Felix, Mossville Environmental Action Now; USA
Betty Obbo, National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE); Uganda
Zenaida Soriano, National Peasant Women Network (AMIHAN); Philippines
Susan JunFish, Parents for a Safer Environment; USA
Sarojeni Rengam, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific; Asia and the Pacific
Carina Weber, Pesticide Action Network Germany; Germany
Devika Ghai, Pesticide Action Network North America; USA
Martha Dina Arguello, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles; USA
Patricia Gutierrez, Red de Acción a los Agrotoxicos de Venezuela; Venezuela
Javier Souza Casadinho, Red de Acción en Plaguicidas y sus Alternatives de América Latina
(RAPAL); Latin AmericaFernando Bejarano, Red de Acción en Plaguicidas y sus Alternatives de Mexico (RAPAM);
Mexico
Rachel Rosenberg, Safer Pest Control Project; USA
Debbie Barker, Save Our Seeds, International; International
Joan Mencher, PhD, The Second Chance Foundation; USA
Shiela Davis, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition; USA
Hải Võ, South Asians and Asian Pacific Islanders for Sustainable Agriculture; USA
Desmond D’Sa, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance; South Africa
Joanna Welborn, Student Action with Farmworkers; USA
Ana Duncan Pardo, Toxic Free North Carolina; USA
Rita Lucey, United Nations Association of the United States of America, Chapter 260; USA
 
*IPEN: The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) is a global network of more than 700 public interest non-governmental organizations working together for the elimination of persistent organic pollutants, on an expedited yet socially equitable basis.

Human Rights Vigil

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Human Rights Commission

December 10, 2012

Human Rights Vigil

NAHUACALLI

Embassy of Indigenous Peoples

802 N. 7^th Street

6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Contacts: Salvador Reza (602) 446-9928;  Anayanse Garza (602) 487-0186

Phoenix, AZ – In the aftermath of implementation of AZ SB1070 Section 2b in Arizona, the Human Rights Commission of Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio be realizing a Vigil for Human Rights in commemoration of the 64^th anniversary of the adoption on December 10, 1948 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Tonight’s vigil will be conducted at the Nahuacalli, Embassy of Indigenous Peoples in conjunction with the weekly Asamblea General of Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio.

Of particular concern to the Comités de Defensa del Barrio is the systematic violation of Human Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families by officials of the judicial system including local law enforcement officers in Maricopa County and Arizona that has been exacerbated since the US Supreme Court authorized the implementation of AZ SB1070 Section 2b. 

As part of a word wide series of activities in commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Vigil for Human Rights will coincide with the actions in Tucson, AZ being organized by La Coalicion de Derechos Humanos to Denounce Border Violence as well as concurrent events in support of Human Rights around the world as International Human Rights Day.

   

The actions in Phoenix are in solidarity of the call by Coalicion de Derechos Humanos of Tucson to denounce the violence at the US-Mexico border which has resulted in at least 19 individuals killed by US Border Patrol in the last two years.  Beyond the border, the call by the Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio tonight is a call the general public to join in a grass roots campaign to proclaim the City of Phoenix as a Human Rights City (as has already been done by Eugene, Oregon) and move to move forward continuously and conscientiously to establish Human Rights Zones throughout the Valley and State, where the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, will be recognized, respected, and defended as the Rule of Law for all Peoples, including Indigenous Peoples, Equal to All Other Peoples.

 From Civil Rights to Human Rights, Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth!

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TONATIERRA

www.tonatierra.org

CDB Proclamacion: Ciudad de Derechos Humanos

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Comisión de Derechos Humanos

Iniciativa comunitaria para proclamar Phoenix como una

Ciudad de Derechos Humanos

28 de noviembre 2012

En consecuencia de la implementacion de la Sección 2b de AZ SB1070 en Arizona, la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio hoy presentaron evidencias y testimonios ante de la Ciudad de Phoenix de las violaciónes sistemáticas de los Derechos Humanos de los Trabajadores Migratorios y sus Familias por parte de funcionarios del sistema judicial, en particular los agentes policias locales. 

El lunes 19 de noviembre 2012 la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio llevó a cabo un Tribunal Público para recollectar y evaluar el testimonio de la comunidad sobre evidencias de violaciónes de Derechos Civiles, las violaciones de los Derechos Humanos y los procesos de responsabilidad por la Ciudad de Phoenix para hacer frente a estas cuestiones. De particular preocupación en este sentido es la implementación por el Departamento de Policia de  la Ciudad de Phoenix del Orden 4.48 que se correlaciona con la AZ SB1070 Sección 2b. 

 

El mandato de prioridad para la Comisión de Derechos Humanos CDB es definir y denunciar la violación sistemática de los Derechos Humanos de los Trabajadores Migratorios y Sus Familias en Arizona que ha sido institucionalizado por la AZ SB1070 Sección 2b, lo que resulta en practicas flagrantes de perfil racial y discriminacion policial. Como mecanismo de rendición de cuentas, la Comisión de Derechos Humanos CDB instituirá la Declaración Universal delos Derechos Humanos, adoptada por la Asamblea General el 10 de diciembre de 1948 como el estándar para enfrentar y la definir los temas de derechos humanos de preocupación prioritaria para los Comités de Defensa del Barrio.

 

Los Estados Unidos de América es firmante de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos.

Fue en el Tribunal del Pueblo en que la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio anunció una iniciativa de base para establecer la ciudad de Phoenix como una Ciudad de Derechos Humanos (como ya se ha hecho en Eugene, Oregon) y mobilizar al pueblo para continuosamente y conscientemente avanzar el establecer de Zonas de Derechos Humanos en todo el Valle y el Estado, donde se realizará la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos, aprobada pr la Asamblea General el 10 de diciembre de 1948, que sea reconocida, respetada y defendida como el Estado de Derecho para todos los pueblos y personas, incluidos los Pueblos Indígenas, iguales a todos los demás pueblos.

La proclamación de Phoenix de ser Ciudad de Derechos Humanos establecería al nivel público, el reconocimiento, el respeto y la afirmación de los principios de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos como un legado para las generaciones futuras.

Una tarea inicial de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos CDB será producir un informe que será presentado al Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, y los organizimos subsidiarios de derechos humanos como la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y el Comité para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial.

# # #

TONATIERRA

www.tonatierra.org

De los Derechos Civiles a los Derechos Humanos, Derechos Indígenas y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra!

CDB Proclaims Human Rights City Initiative

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Human Rights Commission

Community Initiative to proclaim Phoenix as a

Human Rights City
November 28, 2012

PHOENIX, AZ – In the aftermath of implementation of AZ SB1070 Section 2b in Arizona, the Human Rights Commission of Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio will present evidence and testimony before the City of Phoenix today of the systematic violations of Human Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families by officials of the judicial system including local law enforcement officers.

On Monday November 19, 2012 the Human Rights Commission of Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio conducted a Public Tribunal to collect and evaluate community testimony and evidence of Civil Rights violations, Human Rights violations, and the process of accountability by the City of Phoenix in addressing these issues.  Of particular concern in this regard is the implementation of  City of Phoenix Police Order 4.48 which correlates to AZ SB1070 Section 2b. 

The mandate of priority for the CDB Human Rights Commission is to define and denounce the systematic violation of Human Rights of Migrant workers and their Families in Arizona that has been institutionalized by AZ SB1070 Section 2b, resulting in blatant racial profiling and discriminatory policing.  As mechanism of accountability, the CDB Human Rights Commission will institute the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948 as the standard for addressing and defining the human rights issues of priority concern for the Comités de Defensa del Barrio.

The United States of America is signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It was at the Tribunal del Pueblo where the Human Rights Commission of Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio announced a grassroots initiative to establish the City of Phoenix as a Human Rights City (as has already been done by Eugene, Oregon) and move to move forward continuously and conscientiously to establish Human Rights Zones throughout the Valley and State, where the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948, will be recognized, respected, and defended as the Rule of Law for all Peoples, including Indigenous Peoples, Equal to All Other Peoples.

The proclamation of Phoenix as a Human Rights City would institute public acknowledgement, respect and affirmation of the Principles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a legacy for the future generations.

An initial task of the CDB Human Rights Commission will be to produce a report to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, and subsidiary human rights venues such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

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Where do Human Rights Begin?

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

Eleanor Roosevelt

From Civil Rights to Human Rights, Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth!

TONATIERRA

www.tonatierra.org

Link:

TONATIERRA: Univision Report on Racial Profiling 

CDB Human Rights Commission Presents Evidence to the City of Glendale

Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Human Rights Commission

to present evidence and testimony to the

City of Glendale today at Council Meeting

TODAY

 When: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 7:00 PM

Where: 5850 W. Glendale Avenue, Glendale AZ

Contacts: Salvador Reza (602) 446-9928;  Anayanse Garza (602) 314-5870

PHOENIX, AZ – In the aftermath of implementation of AZ SB1070 Section 2b in Arizona, the Human Rights Commission of Los Comités deDefensa del Barrio will present evidence and testimony before the City of Glendale of the systematic violations of Human Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families by officials of the judicial system including local law enforcement officers.

In question today is the report by Univision on discriminatory policing that produced a video recording of a stop by Glendale police of a “Mexican” who had not committed any crime, or traffic violation and was detained in an apparent common practice of racial profiling by law enforcement. The video report went viral over the internet.

The Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio will be presenting a copy of the Univision video in DVD format to the City Council of Glendale today as evidence of the pogrom of racial discrimination that did not begin with AZ SB1070 and the US Supreme Court Decision earlier this year to allow Section 2b to be implemented, but nevertheless has subsequently been exacerbated and “officialized” racial profiling in Arizona to a degree not seen since the “Indian Wars” of a century ago.

The Human Rights Commission of Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio have made public proclamation to move forward continuously and conscientiously to establish Human Rights Zones throughout the Valley and State, where the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948 and to which the US is signatory, will be recognized, respected, and defended as the Rule of Law for all Peoples, including Indigenous Peoples, Equal to All Other Peoples.

Link:

TONATIERRA: Univision Report

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TONATIERRA

www.tonatierra.org

Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Los Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Comités de Defensa del Barrio anuncian Tribunal del Pueblo

Audiencias públicas sobre Violaciones Derechos Humanos en el Condado de Maricopa

Bajo la AZ SB1070 Seccion 2b

19 de  noviembre de 2012

Phoenix, AZ- Después de extensa documentación de violaciones de derechos humanos por parte del Departamento de Policía de Phoenix, con pruebas presentadas al jefe de policía García y otros funcionarios de alto rango de Phoenix, los Comités de Defensa del Barrio convocará a las familias afectadas a reunirse en TONATIERRA, Nahuacalli Embajada de los Pueblos Indígenas para anunciar formalmente la creación de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de los Comités de Defensa Barrio. El mandato de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos CDB será definir y denunciar la violación sistemática de los Derechos Humanos de los trabajadores migratorios y sus familias en Arizona que ha sido institucionalizado por la Sección 2b AZ SB1070, lo que resulta en flagrante abuso por perfíl racial y practicas discriminatorias por la policía publica. Como mecanismo de responsabilidad, la Comisión de Derechos Humanos CDB instituirá la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas, adoptada por la Asamblea General el 10 de diciembre de 1948 como el estándar para tomar medidas y  definir de los temas diversos de derechos humanos de los Comités de Defensa del Barrio.

Los Estados Unidos de América es país signatario de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos.

Una tarea inicial de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos CDB será producir un informe que será presentado al Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU, y los órganos subsidiarios de derechos humanos como la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y el Comité para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial.

La lista de los funcionarios locales invitados al Tribunal del Pueblo incluye el Alcalde de la ciudad de Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, el vice-alcalde Michael Johnson y otros miembros del Consejo de la Ciudad como Michael Nowakaski y Daniel Valenzuela. Los testimonios de los residentes locales cuyos derechos humanos han sido groseramente violados será transmitido a través de las redes sociales de los Comités de Defensa del Barrio.

El Tribunal del Pueblo entregará a la Ciudad de Phoenix una petición para adoptar formalmente la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos como estándar de criterio para evaluar la competencia cultural de los proveedores de todos los servicios públicos en toda la ciudad. En el evento de esta noche la Ciudad de Phoenix se presentará un proyecto de resolución para su aprobación pidiendo la Proclamación de la Ciudad de Phoenix como una Ciudad de Derechos Humanos, como ya se ha hecho en Eugene, Oregon.

Tal proclamación establecería el reconocimiento público, el respeto y la afirmación de los principios de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos como un legado para las generaciones futuras.

Al mismo tiempo, los Comités de Defensa del Barrio dará a conocer el establecimiento de Zonas de Derechos Humanos a través de los barrios de Phoenix fundamentados en nuestra responsabilidad colectiva como Pueblos Indígenas comprometidos con la defensa de los Derechos de la Madre Tierra.

Desde Derechos Civiles a los Derechos Humanos, Derechos Indígenas y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra!
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YouTube:
TONATIERRA: Reporte Univision de Perfil Racial en Arizona 

Human Rights Commission of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio

Comites de Defensa del Barrio Announce Tribunal del Pueblo

Public Hearings on Human Rights Violations in Maricopa County

Under AZ SB1070 Section 2b

NAHUACALLI

Embassy of Indigenous Peoples

November 19, 2012

Phoenix, AZ-    After extensive documenting of Human Rights violations by the City of Phoenix Police Department, presenting the evidence to Chief of Police Garcia and other high ranking officials as well as to Phoenix City Council, the Comités de Defensa del Barrio will convene affected families at TONATIERRA, Nahuacalli Embassy of Indigenous Peoples to formally announce the creation of the Barrio Defense Committees Human Rights Commission. The mandate of the CDB Human Rights Commission will be to define and denounce the systematic violation of Human Rights of migrant workers and their families in Arizona that has been institutionalized by AZ SB1070 Section 2b, resulting in blatant racial profiling and discriminatory policing.  As mechanism of accountability, the CDB Human Rights Commission will institute the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948 as the standard for addressing and defining the human rights issues of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio.

The United States of America is signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

An initial task of the CDB Human Rights Commission will be to produce a report to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, and subsidiary human rights venues such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The list of local officials invited to the Tribunal del Pueblo includes City of Phoenix Mayor Stanton, Vice Mayor Johnson and other City Council members such as Michael Nowakaski and Daniel Valenzuela. The testimonies of local residents whose human rights have been grossly violated will be broadcast via the social networks of the Comités de Defensa del Barrio.  

The Tribunal del Pueblo will call upon the City of Phoenix to formally adopt the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the standard of cultural competency for all public services throughout the city. At tonight’s event the City Council will be presented a draft resolution for adoption calling for the Proclamation of the City of Phoenix as a Human Rights City, as has already been done by Eugene, Oregon.

Such a proclamation would institute public acknowledgement, respect and affirmation of the Principles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a legacy for the future generations.

Simultaneously, the Comités de Defensa del Barrio will announce the establishment of Human Rights Zones throughout the barrios of Phoenix based on our collective responsibility as Indigenous Peoples committed to the defense of the Rights of Mother Earth. 

From Civil Rights to Human Rights, Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth!
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YouTube:
TONATIERRA: Univision Report on Racial Profiling in Arizona