The International Criminal Justice Caucus urges all Participants in the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia & Related Intolerance to:

1. Bring to the urgent attention of this Conference the seriousness and extent of racist and racially discriminatory laws, policies and practices in criminal justice and prison administration systems throughout the world;
2. Ensure the amendment of the Declaration and Programme of Action to reflect the seriousness and extent of such laws, policies and practices, and to identify the causes, victims, methods of prevention, and remedies for such laws, policies and practices, and provide strategies for their eradication.

The Criminal Justice Caucus notes with deep concern that the issue of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance within criminal justice and prison systems and law enforcement agencies are not addressed in the Draft Declaration and Programme of Action.

The Criminal Justice Caucus considers it essential that the World Conference Against Racism adequately addresses the issues of racism within criminal justice and prison systems.

Persons who are vulnerable to racism or racial discrimination within the criminal justice system include persons who belong to any minority, racial, ethnic, national, linguistic, religious group or caste, indigenous peoples, migrants, and asylum-seekers and refugees who are placed in detention centres pending the outcome of a request for asylum.

Compounding factors which increase the likelihood of discrimination within these existing categories of vulnerable persons include gender, age (in particular children and young persons), sexual orientation, disability, economic status, and social origin, and persons living in situations or countries in conflict.

Racism or racial discrimination occurs in multiple forms and at all stages within the criminal justice and prison systems, and in many instances leads to serious violations of fundamental human rights.

Within law enforcement agencies, it occurs during the period of investigation, prior to or at the moment of arrest in the form of unreasonable searches, stops or seizures, as part of the decision to charge a person with a criminal offence, and during any periods spent in police custody.

Legal provisions may be racially discriminatory, including automatic detention of asylum seekers and refugees, and the expulsion of foreign nationals after completion of sentence, regardless of their links with their country of origin, resulting in "double jeopardy" punishment.

Discrimination occurs as a result of the systemic lack of protection of vulnerable persons, including ignorance of local laws and culture, ignorance of the local language and lack of access to translators/ interpreters at critical stages of the criminal proceeding, fragile or illegal residential status, inability to access, or lack of financial resources for, an adequate defence.

Court decisions or administrative procedures often result in racially discriminatory outcomes such as overtly or covertly prejudicial judicial or jury decisions, disproportionately harsh sentencing (including the death penalty), and a lack of understanding of cultural differences, or of the very stresses related to being a member of a vulnerable group.

Vulnerable groups also suffer racial discrimination whilst serving sentences of the court: They may be assigned onerous prison sentences, even when non-custodial options exist; they may be physically, linguistically, and culturally isolated in active or passive ways during prison detention; they may be the victims of hatred, harassment, dehumanisation or violence by prison inmates and staff, and they may suffer difficulties in obtaining discretionary release, such as remission or parole.

Vulnerable groups may also suffer disproportionate hardship and stigmatisation after conviction, and/ or release, such as reintegration into the society, due to lack of access to cultural and economic support resources, accommodation and employment.

The Criminal Justice Caucus strongly recommends that a specific Chapter entitled CRIMINAL JUSTICE be added to the draft Programme of Action as follows :

The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia & Related Intolerance calls upon Governments :

1. To remove or amend in accordance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination all forms of legislation, policies or practices that have the purpose or effects of discrimination against any person on the basis of race, religion, nationality, language, caste, ethnicity, or minority or refugess status, through the full integration of international instruments relevant to racism into national laws, regulations and administrative practices, and the identification and elimination at the national level of institutionalised racism existing in the policies, procedures, practices and culture of public or private criminal justice institutions.
2. To give special consideration to the concerns and needs of women, youth, persons of African descent, indigenous peoples, sexual minorities, disabled persons, the poor, and persons living in situations or countries in conflict, who are affected by the criminal justice system, as well as to the incarceration and withholding of legal rights and services to asylum seekers and refugees.
3. To abolish the use of death penalty, giving particular consideration to the documented fact that throughout the world it is frequently used disproportionately against people belonging to racial ethnic and national minorities
4. To eradicate the impunity of law enforcement and correctional personnel, or other criminal justice officers, who engage in racist behaviour, including thorough investigation and disciplinary or criminal sanctions for abuses of power of a racist character, reviewing policing operations to ensure they are not racially discriminatory, by providing full, rapid, and effective independent investigations of complaints against public officials, by effectively monitoring and acting arbitrary detention of vulnerable persons.
5. To take effective measures to prevent the criminalisation and racial profiling of affected people at all levels of society. Such measures should include a clear prohibition of reliance on race, ethnic, or other group status in the exercise of enforcement, prosecutorial or judicial discretion and review of laws, policies and guidelines to ensure that they do not have a disparate impact.
6. To develop policies that prohibit the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers, focusing specially on non-lethal forms of arrest of suspects, should provide increased sanctions against actions motivated by race, religion, gender or other differences, and should instruct law enforcement officials on alternatives to the use of force and the proportionate levels of force and if it is required.
7. To recognise the right of travel which is infringed in many countries on the basis of race, colour and immigrants status, resulting in arbitrary arrest, detention, strip searches, temporary incarceration and other forms of harassment.
8. To recognise the right to a translator and/or interpreter, free of charge, at all stages of the criminal justice process, in particular during police interrogation and the court process.
9. To provide prompt and regular access to diplomatic representatives for foreigner nationals.
10. To ensure that affected persons are provided with clear and comprehensive explanations with respect to the reason/s for any arrest, detention or legal proceedings, any charge/s against them, their legal rights and how to exercise them.
11. To recognise the right to, and to provide equal access to an adequate and effective criminal defense for all affected persons.
12. To take concrete and immediate steps to stop the exploitation of the labour of incarcerated people, especially people of African descent, foreigners, and ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, who are over-represented in prison systems across the globe.
13. To implement stringent review and regulation of private prisons.
14. To enforce strict and regular monitoring, inspection and control mechanims in all places of detention, especially where vulnerable groups are over-represented.
15. To give special consideration to the concern that foreigners, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees are increasingly criminalized through unnecessary, arbitrary or unlawful detention and negative representation in the media and by politicians.
16. To ensure that asylum seekers are not subjected to criminal or other punishment on the basis of any illegal entry or presence. In particular, the detention of asylum seekers should be a measure of last resort only and subject to periodic judicial review, with an absolute maximum duration for detention specified in national law, and with strict and regular inspections by independent bodies.
17. To ensure that asylum sekers should be held in special immigration detention centers in conditions appropriate to their status and not with persons charged with or convicted of criminal offenses.
18. To provide immigration officers with sufficient training in laws relating to refugees as well as human rights situation in refugees’ country of origin.
19. To give special attention to the rights of refugees and asylum seekers to access to adequate and effective representation and prompt judicial proceedings.
20. To ensure that in no circumstances should unaccompagnied minors be placed in isolation, detention centers or transit zones at national border.
21. To give special attention to specific groups such as documented or undocumented migrants asylum seekers and refugees to provide necessary information and legal assistance in the event of ill-treatment and torture perpetrated on the basis of racial discrimination.
22. To require regular qualitative monitoring and data collection and compilation by race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and age to determine whether any aspects of the criminal and penal justcie system are being administrered in a discriminatory manner, and they should ensure the publication and dissemination of any findings.
23. To use modalities of affirmative action to include people affected by racial discrimination, xenophobia or other forms of intolerance in the recruitment, hiring training, retention, and promotion of law enforcement, criminal justice and prison personnel at all levels.
24. To implement race-awareness training and monitoring of criminal justice system officers, including law enforcement, prison and correctional personnel, judges, and prosecution and defence lawyers.
25. To provide specific programmes for the social rehabilitation of affected persons upon release from prison or completion of a prison sentence.
26. To develop effective remedies, including remedies against government agencies and officers, for victims of racial and other forms of discrimination who have been disparately impacted, disproportionately targeted and sentenced to death due to their race, nationality, ethnic background, religious believes or other differences.
27. To ensure that the prison population has full access to physical and mental health services, including preventative, diagnostic and curative services, which are provided in a timely fashion are appropriate to their needs.
28. To ensure that the incarcerated population has full access to educational programmes and facilities.
29. To eradicate the practice of punishing minors with sentences reserved for adults, which has dispropotionately affected vulnerable persons