[NYTr] NOLA Tribunal Finds "Crimes Against Humanity"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Workers World - Sep 20, 2007 issue
http://www.workers.org/2007/us/tribunal-0920


Bush, Blanco, Nagin named

Tribunal judges find 'crimes against humanity'

Following are excerpts from a Sept. 6 news release sent out by the New
Orleans-based People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, the main initiator of the
International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans.
President Bush, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor
Ray Nagin were cited by the jurists for crimes against humanity.

Between Aug. 29 and Sept. 2, a Tribunal of 16 esteemed jurists from
nine countries, including Algeria, Brazil, France, Guadeloupe,
Martinique, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela, and the United States,
convened in New Orleans to hear testimony by experts and survivors of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After hearing nearly 30 hours of testimony by hurricane survivors and
experts—covering government neglect and negligence in 15 areas, ranging
from police brutality to environmental racism, from misappropriation of
relief to gentrification—the jurists announced their preliminary
findings.

Jill Soffiyah Elijah, the Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice
Institute at Harvard Law School and Coordinating Justice for the
International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, announced the
Tribunal’s preliminary findings, “It is our view that the U.S.
government has committed crimes against humanity particularly in
relation to its failure to maintain functional levees that should have
protected the City of New Orleans from flooding. ... It was the
reckless disregard and, in some instances, negligence of the U.S.
government, the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans that
created the devastation we continue to see today.”

Elijah also announced that the Tribunal made preliminary findings that
the federal, state and local governments are guilty of violating the
human rights to life, dignity and recognition of personhood; the right
to be free from racial discrimination—especially as it pertains to the
actions of law enforcement personnel and vigilantes; the right to
return, resettlement and reintegration of internally displaced persons;
the right to be free from degrading treatment and punishment; the right
to freedom of movement; the right to adequate housing and education;
the right to vote and participate in governance and the right to a fair
trial, the right to liberty and security of person and the right to
equal protection under the law. Both actions and failure to act by the
governments had disproportionate devastating impact with respect to
race and gender.

The jurists announced that they would deliver their final verdict Dec.
8—the second anniversary of the Katrina Survivors’ Assembly. In the
meantime, prosecutors will be submitting additional evidence and
videotaped affidavits from an additional 25 survivors.

The prosecution team included experienced attorneys from respected
legal associations around the country: the ACLU of New York, National
Economic and Social Rights Initiative, the U.S. Human Rights Network,
the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the Center for Constitutional
Rights, National Lawyers Guild, the Center for Law and Social Justice
at Medgar Evers College, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund,
Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights, Washington D.C. Legal
Defender, Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition, International
Association of Democratic Lawyers, Legal Empowerment Center and the
Louisiana Justice Initiative.

For samples of videotaped testimony, contact Monifa Bandele at (917)
407-3018.

For more background information on this tribunal, go to www.workers.org.
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