Friend,

Amid growing international concern that the U.S. is failing to protect minority groups within its borders, a top official of the Southern Poverty Law Center traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, this week to meet with officials at the United Nations.

Lecia Brooks, chief of staff and culture for the SPLC, is participating as an expert in a panel discussion – “Open Dialogue: Urgent Situations of Minorities” – at the 15th session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, which began yesterday and continues today.

The situation is indeed “urgent,” said Fernand de Varennes, U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues, who is directing the forum. De Varennes called rising threats to voting rights in the U.S. “of grave concern” and said he fears that attempts by political leaders to sow doubts about the integrity of elections, to gerrymander electoral districts to benefit particular candidates and political parties and to restrict access to the ballot could, if not addressed, spill over from the U.S. into other countries.

“We don’t often address the issues of minorities in the U.S. at a session of the United Nations,” de Varennes said. “But I am concerned that the right to choose one’s own representation, the cornerstone of democracy, is threatened in the U.S. I think the international community should get more involved and open more opportunities for specific minorities to make their case at the level of the U.N.”

The SPLC’s more than half-century track record of fighting for racial justice, civil rights and voting rights in the U.S. “is certainly what I had in mind when I invited” the organization to address the issue on the international stage, de Varennes said.

Brooks’ participation in the forum is part of an evolving strategy at the SPLC to employ the pressure of international condemnation as a powerful tool for advocacy.

“It’s an opportunity to talk about the ongoing, systemic issues facing marginalized populations in the U.S., and to acknowledge that we face the same issues in the U.S. as these communities face globally,” Brooks said. “The U.S. is not unique in that way. It has a long way to go in terms of honoring the human rights of all its people.”

READ MORE

In solidarity,

Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center

The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.

Friend, will you make a gift to help the SPLC fight for justice and equity in courts and combat white supremacy?