The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

In 1992 the U.S. Senate ratified a UN-inspired agreement entitled the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  The treaty obligated nations to ban arbitrary killings, torture, and imprisonment without judicial review.

The Clinton administration in 1995, worried about Haitian refugees at sea, said the treaty did not apply to people under U.S. jurisdiction outside the U.S. borders.  The Bush administration, notorious for permitting prisoners to be tortured and jailed outside the U.S., agreed with this interpretation.

Two officials in the Obama administration’s State Department said such a position could not be defended, but both of those officials are no longer in office.  This week the Obama administration said it agreed with the Clinton and Bush interpretations.  

As an official with Amnesty International put it, “Now the cosmetics have changed, but the failure of leadership is the same.”  

For the full disgusting story, visit <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/world/us-affirms-stance-that-rights-treaty-doesnt-apply-abroad.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0>.