The U.N. Human Rights Committee (HRC) condemned (Section 19) the “very exceptional” United States last week for criminalizing homelessness they called “cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment” and a violation of America’s obligation to adhere to international human rights treaties. The HRC conducted a review of America’s compliance with a treaty on human rights ratified in 1992 and called on the government to take corrective action to be in compliance. The Chairman of the committee, Sir Nigel Rodley, stated at the end of the review that “I’m just simply baffled by the idea that people can be without shelter in a country, and then be treated as criminals for being without shelter. The idea of criminalizing people who don’t have shelter is something that I think many of my colleagues might find as difficult as I do to even begin to comprehend.” Obviously, Sir Nigel has not spent much time in and around America, or paid any attention to Republicans’ crusade to incorporate cruel and inhumane into their permanent party platform as their distinguishing brand.
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