How has the ACLU been involved in the current review process?
The ACLU has been involved in the process since the U.S. submitted its report in October 2005. Together with other human rights NGOs, the ACLU provided the Committee with a list of issues and questions that the U.S. should be required to respond to. The ACLU, along with its state affiliate offices and clients, also participated in an NGO presentation to the Committee about the U.S. report at the March 2006 session in New York. In June 2006, the ACLU submitted a shadow report that documents U.S. failure to comply with the ICCPR both at home and abroad, entitled “Dimming the Beacon of Freedom: U.S. Violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.” The report focuses on five substantive areas: national security, immigrant’s rights, racial justice, women’s rights and religious freedom. Although the ICCPR covers a broad spectrum of civil and political rights, the shadow report does not address all of them; in addition, the report does not cover all of the work of the
