| For a summary of USA’s review at the first cycle please click here. |
22nd UPR session
Date of review: 11 May 2015
Date of report adoption: 20 July 2015
Document number: A/HRC/30/12
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SUMMARY SOGIESC issues during the USA’s 2nd UPR review |
I. SOGIESC issues/recommendations identified by NGOs
Equality and non-discrimination
29. LL recommended adopting measures to address profiling, including passing and implementing legislation such as the End Racial Profiling Act, amended to additionally prohibit profiling individuals based upon sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
36. NCLR observed that the rights of LGBT families may change by crossing a state line or by passing from a state to a federal jurisdiction. JS43 made similar remarks. JS28 recommended investigating discriminatory practices based on race, gender, sexual orientation, homelessness, and other categories. WI recommended prohibiting any form of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. JS41 made similar recommendations. WI and UNA recommended passing legislation prohibiting LGBT discrimination in employment. HRC recommended the adoption of legislation covering sexual orientation and gender identity in both the public and private sectors.
Right to life, liberty and security of the person
42. […] AIC stated that intersex people in the US suffer harm from genital-normalizing surgery in childhood and recommended that enforcement agencies take action to enforce laws prohibiting FGM and involuntary sterilization and investigate violations to protect children with intersex conditions. AIC also recommended that US Courts recognize genital-normalizing surgery and involuntary sterilization performed on intersex children as violations of federal civil rights and offer remedies for these harms.
43. […] SCU/IHRC noted that LGBTQ youth are up to five times more likely than heterosexual youth to be victims of trafficking. […]
46. WI stated that sexual orientation-based hate crimes make up approximately 30% of the reported hate crimes in the US. […]
Right to privacy, marriage and family life
60. NCLR stated that LGBT people in the US are denied marriage rights to same-sex couples, and parental and custodial rights to LGBT parents. WI recommended recognizing same-sex relationships, including removal of bans on marriage.
Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
96. JS47 indicated that the sexual abuse of migrants in detention, including pregnant women, nursing mothers, and LGBTI migrants is a serious concern.
II. Excerpts on SOGIESC issues from the national report
Civil rights and discrimination
16. In December 2014, DOJ announced an updated policy on profiling by federal law enforcement and state and local officers participating in federal law enforcement task forces. This policy instructs that law enforcement officers may not consider race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, or sexual orientation to any degree when making routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions, unless the characteristics apply to a suspect’s description. The policy applies a uniform standard to all federal law enforcement, national security, and intelligence activities conducted by law enforcement components.
Discrimination based on religion and hate crimes Recommendations 64, 98–99, 103, 106, 189, and 190–191
20. The United States is committed to preventing and effectively prosecuting hate crimes. In 2009, we enacted a powerful new tool, the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which enhanced federal prosecution for violent crimes motivated by religious, racial, or national origin bias and enabled federal prosecution of crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability.
Discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals Recommendations 86 and 112
35. Equal protection of the rights of LGBT individuals is critically important to the United States, and we have made extraordinary strides to overcome obstacles and institutional biases that too often affect these individuals.
36. In a landmark 2013 ruling, United States v. Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal government’s ban on recognizing same-sex marriages. Since then, we have worked to implement that decision by treating married same-sex couples the same as married opposite-sex couples with respect to the relevant benefits and obligations, to the greatest extent possible under the law. As a result, married same-sex couples are now eligible for many federal benefits and recognition, including in the areas of taxation, immigration, student financial aid, and military and veterans’ benefits. As of January 2015, same-sex couples can marry in 36 of our 50 states and the District of Columbia.
37. In the area of education, we have resolved a number of cases involving harassment of LGBT individuals in public schools. For example, in 2013, the U.S. government entered into a first-of-its-kind settlement agreement with the Arcadia Unified School District in California to resolve allegations of discrimination against a transgender student. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education released guidance describing the responsibilities of colleges, universities, and public schools to address sexual violence and other forms of sex discrimination, including discrimination based on gender identity.
38. In the area of policing, in 2014, DOJ’s Community Relations Service launched transgender training for law enforcement officials that helps improve officer understanding and community relations.
39. In the area of employment, President Obama signed an order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against applicants and employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and adding gender identity as a prohibited basis for discrimination in federal employment. Furthermore, the U.S. government has taken the position that federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in employment extends to discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status, and that LGBT workers stigmatized for failing to meet sex-based stereotypes may also pursue discrimination claims. In 2011, President Obama also announced the final repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that barred gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.
Prisons
44. In 2012, we issued regulations implementing the Prison Rape Elimination Act to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse in federal, state, and local confinement facilities. These regulations include greater protections for juvenile offenders in adult facilities; new restrictions on cross-gender observation and searches; minimum staffing ratios in juvenile facilities; expanded medical and mental health care, including reproductive health care, for victims of prison rape; greater protections for LGBT and gender non-conforming inmates; and independent audits of all covered facilities.
National security
84. Signals intelligence collection outside the FISA context is also regulated, and must have a valid foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose. In January 2014, the President issued Presidential Policy Directive-28, which enunciates standards for the collection and use of foreign signals intelligence. It emphasizes that we do not collect foreign intelligence for the purpose of suppressing criticism or dissent, or for disadvantaging any individual on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion, and that agencies within our intelligence community are required to adopt and make public to the greatest extent feasible procedures for the protection of personal information of non-U.S. persons.
III. Excerpts on SOGIESC issues by UN agencies
No references.
IV. References to SOGIESC issues during the Working Group review
8. Ms. McLeod provided an outline of the democratic system in the United States, which allows for scrutiny, advocacy and debate to fuel progress and reform. She outlined federal efforts to end violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, to prosecute crimes motivated by bias, to prohibit discrimination in federal employment and the military and to support efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors. Progress had also been made at the state level.
86. Brazil referred to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, immigration and border security and interferences to privacy.
V. Conclusions and/or recommendations
The United States accepted the following recommendations:
176.162 Heighten efforts to promote non-discrimination of any kind, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (South Africa);
176.163 Keep promoting progress in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues, especially in preventing discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation (Israel).
The United States noted the following recommendations:
176.164 Take affirmative steps to ensure that individuals’ religious refusals are regulated to conform with international human rights standards that protect sexual and reproductive rights and the rights to equality and nondiscrimination on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity (Sweden).
VI. Further information
You will find all documents relating to The United States’s second review at UPR-Info and OHCHR’s websites.