U.N. committee faults U.S. civil-rights record
GENEVA – A U.N. panel has found serious shortcomings in the United States’ civil-rights record, with experts citing Thursday a lack of adequate oversight and transparency in national security programs dealing with everything from electronic surveillance to targeted drone killings and secret detentions.
The report by the U.N. Human Rights Committee, a panel of 18 independent experts from different countries, found general improvement in some areas – such as the handling of rights of indigenous peoples and the Guantanamo Bay prisoners – since the last such review in 2006.
And while the panel’s experts made clear they generally view the U.S. as a promoter of human rights, they also found major concerns while examining compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Obama, pope hold first meeting together
VATICAN CITY – Face to face for the first time, President Barack Obama and Pope Francis focused publicly on their mutual respect and shared concern for the poor Thursday. But their lengthy private discussion also highlighted the deep differences between the White House and the Catholic Church on abortion and birth control.
The gaps were evident in the differing accounts Obama and the Vatican gave of the meeting, with Obama stressing the two leaders’ common ground on fighting inequality and poverty while Vatican officials emphasized the importance to the church of “rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection.” That point by church officials referred to a major disagreement about a provision of Obama’s health-care law.
The president said the plight of the poor and marginalized was a central topic in their talks, along with Middle East peace, conflicts in Syria and the treatment of Christians around the world. Social issues, he said, were not discussed in detail.
In a written statement, church officials said discussions among not only the pope and president but also their top aides centered on questions of particular relevance for the church leaders in the U.S., making veiled references both to abortion and a contraception mandate in Obama’s health care law, which is under review by the Supreme Court.
Associated Press
