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US Human Rights Network condemns discriminatory ruling against Ethnic Studies in Arizona and calls on the government to protect human rights to culture, identity, and self-determination

January 4, 2012 – [Atlanta, GA] The US Human Rights Network strongly condemns the December 27th, 2011 ruling of Arizona Administrative Judge Lewis Kowal restricting the teaching of Ethnic Studies in the Tuscan Unified School District and throughout the state. Judge Kowal’s decision is a reaffirmation of HB 2281, a discriminatory law passed by the Arizona legislature in 2010 that forbids the teaching ethnic studies and the recognition of the ethnic, racial, or national heritage of the students.

HB 2281 was passed just 20 days after SB 1070, the discriminatory anti-immigrant law passed by the Arizona legislature, and is part and parcel of a conservative political movement initiative that aims to halt the rapidly changing demographic patterns of the United States and justify the legacies of European colonial conquest and racial discrimination by enshrining the doctrines of “Manifest Destiny," rugged individualism, and free enterprise in the public school system.

HB 2281[1] violates three fundamental human rights, the right to culture, the right to an identity, and the right to self-determination. All three of these rights are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and several United Nations Covenants and Conventions, but particularly in the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) and the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Article 27 of the UDHR[2] states: “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.”

Article 15 of the ESCR[3] states: “1) The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone: (a) to take part in cultural life; (b) To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications; (c) To benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. 2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture.”

Article 8 of the CRC[4] states: “1) States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference. 2) Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to reestablishing speedily his or her identity.”

Article 1 of the ICCPR[5] states: “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”

The state of Arizona and the Federal Government must reverse the decision of Judge Kowal, rescind HB 2281 and do everything within their power and authority to protect the rights of indigenous, Latino, and African American students to learn and preserve their collective identities and cultures.