IBAHRI open letter to Mr Trump addressing human rights in the US reissued ahead of inauguration

Ahead of the forthcoming inauguration of the new President of the United States of America, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is republishing an open letter first sent to President-Elect Donald Trump in December 2016 in which he is called upon to prioritise human rights in the US.

Download the open letter here: tinyurl.com/z7gdghg

Signed by IBAHRI Co-Chairs Baroness Helena Kennedy and former United Nations Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Ambassador (ret) Hans Corell, the open letter was informed by the deliberations of a panel of experts at the Annual Conference of the International Bar Association in Washington, DC, in September 2016.

The letter states: ‘It is sad to say that the United States is no longer the leading model for the rule of law and democracy, as it once was.’ Key concerns addressed in the text include:

• The non-ratification of important treaties for the protection of human rights;
• The continued use of the death penalty;
• Torture and rendition;
• The US not being party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
• Unlawful discrimination, including along the lines of race, gender, sexuality and religion;
• International relations and the use of force; and
• Nuclear disarmament.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor

1. The International Bar Association (IBA), established in 1947, is the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), an autonomous and financially independent entity, works to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.

For further information please contact:

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International Bar Association
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