ACR 129 Assembly Concurrent Resolution

BILL NUMBER: ACR 129	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 2, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Monning

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

   Relative to international treaties.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 129, as amended, Monning. International treaties: reports.
   The measure would request the Attorney General to publicize
 3  specified international treaties  and
protocols  to cities, counties, and state agencies, and to
prepare templates for cities, counties, and state agencies to use to
create reports pertaining to those treaties  and protocols 
.
   Fiscal committee: yes.



   WHEREAS, California is a coastal state populated by many native
people and immigrants from all nations that has long recognized its
role in the United States and in the global community; and
    WHEREAS, The state is required to fulfil and implement its
reporting obligations under international treaties and domestic laws;
and 
   WHEREAS, The City and County of San Francisco was proud to serve
as the site for the founding of the United Nations and the United
Nations Charter, which was  ratified   agreed to
 by the United States  Senate  in 1945; and
   WHEREAS, In 1992, the United States  Senate ratified
  agreed to  the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR), a treaty that includes many of the
rights set forth in the United States Bill of Rights and in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which the United States
made commitments to (1) publicize the text of the treaty throughout
its states and territories, and (2) make reports every five years to
the  United Nations  Human Rights Committee 
administering   of the United Nations that administers
 the ICCPR, including reports at the federal, state, and local
levels; and
   WHEREAS, In 1994, the United States  Senate ratified
  agreed to  the International Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(ICAT), a treaty including some of the provisions in the Eighth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, in which the United
States made commitments to (1) publicize the text of the treaty
throughout its states and territories, and (2) make reports every
four years to the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT)
administering the ICAT, including reports at the federal, state, and
local levels; and
   WHEREAS, In 1994, the United States  Senate ratified
  agreed to  the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), a treaty
including provisions of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 24th Amendments to
the United States Constitution, in which the United States made
commitments to (1) publicize the text of the treaty throughout its
states and territories, and (2) make reports every two years to the
United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(CERD), including reports at the federal, state, and local levels;
and
    WHEREAS, In 2002, the United States agreed to optional
protocols to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC)--the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed
Conflict and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography (CRC Optional Protocols),
protocols that include some of the provisions of the United States
military and pornography law--in which the United States made
commitments to (1) publicize the text of the protocols throughout its
states and territories, and (2) make reports every five years to the
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
administering the Protocols, including reports at the federal, state,
and local levels; and 
   WHEREAS, To date, California has not received a formal notice from
the United States Department of State that reports are due under
these treaties  and protoc   ols  and has failed to
make any required report to any of the  three  
four  United Nations committees; and
    WHEREAS, On January 20, 2010, the Legal Adviser to the United
States Department of State issued an unclassified Memorandum for
State Governors on United States Human Rights Treaty Reports stating
that "we would appreciate your forwarding this communication to your
Attorney General's office, and to the departments and offices that
deal with human rights, civil rights, housing, employment and related
issues in your administration"; and 
   WHEREAS, In 1994, the City of Berkeley, informed of the treaties
by its Peace and Justice Commission, submitted its initial local
reports  to the United States Department of State for inclusion
in its report, and directly  to the Human Rights Committee, and
in 2006 and 2007, submitted its local reports to the CERD and CAT
under city council resolutions; and
   WHEREAS, City officials in Berkeley  have  found
that these submissions heightened awareness among city officials and
staff of the significance of their enforcing human rights; and
   WHEREAS, The members of the three United Nations committees
recently used information from unofficial reports by nongovernmental
organizations in their discussions of the official United States
reports, and specifically stated in their Concluding Observations
that they expect to receive information at the local level in all
future United States reports; and
   WHEREAS, All of the facts and statistics needed to make the
reports to the  three   four  United
Nations committees are available in reports already prepared by the
state for other purposes; and
   WHEREAS, California can become the first state in the nation to
prepare and file the reports  and protocols  required under
these three treaties by obtaining information from all cities and
counties and from state agencies; and
   WHEREAS, The next reports from the United States are due to the
Human Rights Committee of the United Nations on August  8
  1  , 2010, to the CERD Committee on November 20,
2011,  and  to the CAT Committee on November 19,
2011  , and to the CRC Committee in 2015  ; now, therefore,
be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby requests the Attorney General to (1) publicize the text of the
three treaties  and two protocols  among all city, county,
and state agencies, and (2) prepare templates for use by cities,
counties, and state agencies on which to make concise, complete, and
accurate reports that the state can merge and submit in its reports
to the  three   four  United Nations
committees; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Attorney General, President and Vice President
of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States,  the Legal
Advisor to  the United States Department of State, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Chair of the Human
Rights Committee  of the United Nations  , the Chair of the
Committee Against Torture  of the United Nations  , 
and to  the Chair of the Committee on Elimination of Racial
Discrimination  in Geneva   of the United
Nations, and the Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child of
the United Nations  .
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