Global Policy Forum

By Karen Iley

A U.N. body has slammed the United States' record on racism, suggesting a halt to the death penalty and immediate moves to stamp out police brutality.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination unveiled three pages of preliminary conclusions late Monday, almost two weeks after the United States presented it with its first-ever report on how it was combating discrimination.

The body of 18 independent experts, who monitor how signatory countries comply with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, noted ``a disturbing correlation between race, both of the victim and the defendant, and the imposition of the death penalty'' in America. It called on the United States to ensure that no death penalty was imposed as a result of racial bias, ``perhaps by pronouncing a moratorium.''

In April, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights backed a worldwide suspension of the death penalty, but the United States joined a minority of Arab, African and Asian states in rejecting the call.

Some 54 percent of people currently on Death Row in the United States come from a minority background, although minorities make up just 20 percent of the population, according to human rights activists.

In its report, final details of which will be released at the end of the week, the U.N. committee expressed concern about police brutality, urging the United States to begin training its police force to combat prejudices and take firm action to punish racially motivated violence.

Washington said in its submission to the Committee earlier this month that it had taken steps to ensure protection against discrimination but acknowledged more still had to be done.

The United States has fallen foul of critics for its insistence that a victim of racism must prove there was an intent to discriminate in order to win protection by law. Under the convention, it is sufficient to prove that the discrimination had an effect.

In a veiled reference to that discrepancy, the committee highlighted its concern about U.S. ``far-reaching reservations and declarations.'' It called for the consistent application of the convention's provisions at all levels of government and the prohibition and elimination of racial discrimination ``in all its forms.'' The United States, which only ratified the convention on 1994, is one of a number of countries being examined by the committee whose hearings coincided with preparations f

or this month's World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Washington has threatened to boycott the U.N.-organized conference in a dispute over draft proposals which include Arab singling out of alleged Israeli racist practices. Those preparations, which ended in Geneva last Friday, failed to settle the row.

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