Reparative Justice for the Legacy of Enslavement Article 6 of the ICERD establishes the right to remedy and to seek just and adequate reparation for acts of racial discrimination such as enslavement, the many post-emancipation crimes against Black people in the United States, and the insufficiently remediated ongoing discriminatory structures. The US government has never adequately -- The ICERD requires States Parties to "assure to everyone within their jurisdiction effective protection and remedies, through the competent national tribunals and other State institutions, against any acts of racial discrimination" and to ensure "the right to seek from such tribunals just and adequate reparation or satisfaction for any damage suffered as a result of such discrimination."[24][10] The CERD has noted that the right to seek just and adequate reparation "is not -- remedies.[53][33] But [54]no progress has been reported as of this writing.[55][34] In sum, the US federal government continues to neglect its ICERD commitments to remedy the systemic, longstanding and grave legacy of enslavement and racial discrimination. To address ongoing structural racism and legacies of enslavement, the US should: -- Mass Incarceration Article 2(1) of ICERD states that States Parties need to pursue the elimination of racial discrimination in all its forms. ICERD prohibits discriminatory practices and requires that States Parties "take effective measures to review governmental, national and local policies, and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws which have the effect of -- treatment before tribunals and all other organs administering justice";[57][36] and article 6 requires states to guarantee "effective protection and remedies, through competent national tribunals," against acts of racial discrimination.[58][37] The CERD has broadly articulated that "the mere fact of belonging to a racial or ethnic group . . . is not a sufficient reason, de jure or de -- now includes arrests, citations, and forced banishment of people through encampment clearances and property destruction by sanitation workers and police.[136][93] In cities like Los Angeles as well as elsewhere in the US, a long history of racial discrimination in housing, lending, employment, policing, and other factors (government policies like "urban renewal" and freeway construction included) have led to high levels of Black homelessness.[137][94] -- probation and parole, and nearly all deny those rights to people in prison.[163][120] To address racial discrimination in re-entry, US jurisdictions should: * Repeal US laws allowing and facilitating discrimination and/or exclusions based solely on an individual's arrest or conviction, -- Article 2(c), requires States Parties to "take effective measures to review governmental, national and local policies, and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws and regulations that have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination wherever it exists."[164][121] In its General Recommendation XXXI, the CERD recommended that States "pay the greatest attention" to "proportionately higher crime rates attributed to persons belonging to [racial minorities], particularly as -- countries, including those with extensive records of civil rights violations.[226][183] To address racial discrimination by law enforcement in border control and interior immigration enforcement: * Federal, state, and local authorities should reduce their reliance -- Black and brown workers' rights to fair pay and decent work conditions to the right to organize. To address racial discrimination against migrants, the US should: * Conduct a thorough review of all current immigration laws to determine racial or discriminatory motivations or effects. Repeal -- "discriminatory bans" on entry to the United States, which had been implemented by former President Trump and rescinded by President Biden. Commentators have pointed to the way in which anti-Muslim animus long operated as a form of racial discrimination in the US immigration system, prior to these bans on entry.[245][202] While the current administration rescinded the "discriminatory bans," the administration has failed to adequately remedy past discriminatory exclusions -- Texas announced it would [288]return those suspected of being migrants to the border, raising a host of legal concerns.[289][242] To address racial discrimination at the border, US jurisdictions should: * Expand the federal investigation into discriminatory treatment of non-citizens under Operation Lone Star to encompass Texas' new EO -- Racial Discrimination in Public Services and Social Protection Article 5 of ICERD provides that "States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone" to economic and social rights, including protection against unemployment, the right to medical care, social security, social services, and education, and just conditions of -- Public Health during the Covid-19 Pandemic Article 5 of ICERD provides that "States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms" in the right to "public health" and "medical care"[307][260] and provide equal access to healthcare services.[308][261] CERD has specifically mandated that states address the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 -- * Establish inclusivity policies that: support linguistic and racial diversity, including in federally qualified health clinics; and acknowledge, confront, and seek to remedy historic and current experiences of racial discrimination in public health, including by creating an official, confidential, and accessible complaint mechanism for patients who use federally qualified health facilities. -- systemic racism and other factors, this disproportionately impacts families of color. To eliminate racial discrimination in the social safety net, the US should: * Increase benefit levels for social assistance and social insurance programs, including cash or in-kind assistance, including relevant -- neighborhoods generate and receive less funding and resources than those in wealthier neighborhoods with higher property values.[364][314] Racial disparities in education's connection to US property tax policies built in part on racial discrimination, racial segregation, and the legacies of slavery has been widely recognized, including by some US courts.[365][315] Poor conditions in these schools-such as "missing or unqualified teachers, physically dangerous facilities, and -- The US has [392]failed to implement these recommendations.[393][337] There are [394]no federal requirements or standards for teaching the history or racial discrimination in the US or about the history and cultures of Black Americans and other people of color, and only a handful of states mandate that such history be taught.[395][338] Even where mandates exist, each US state may teach in a way that leads to -- self-esteem of Black students, it conveys historical realities to all students and encourages empathy, understanding, and efforts to avoid repeating the racist violence of the past.[398][341] Further, denying the historical and contemporary realities of racial discrimination impedes not only justice and accountability for historic wrongs, but the eradication of persisting structures of racial inequality that is the core purpose of ICERD. -- Title VI and relevant statutes to ensure non-discrimination in the implementation of such a national standard, and in particular, prohibit school districts or states from banning Critical Race Theory or from teaching about other forms of racial discrimination. -- environmental control measures, promoting equal opportunities in employment, and inclusion of the history and contribution of Africans and people of African descent in the education curriculum. UN General Assembly, "Elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance: comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action," Resolution 75/237, A/RES/75/237 (2021), -- effect of maintaining or reestablishing the same structural context of violence and discrimination are not acceptable. Rather, reparations must aim to address and redress the underlying situation of inequality and the ongoing context of racial discrimination."). [430][31] For example, the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2020 to research forty-two known -- [721][287] ICERD, art 5. In addition, under ICERD article 2(1)(c), states are required to review national and local policies and amend and nullify any laws and regulations that have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination. [722][288] CERD, "Concluding Observations on the Combined Seventh to Ninth Periodic Reports," August 29, 2014, para. 5.