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For Immediate Release
Contact: media@aclu.org

U.S. Elected To U.N. Human Rights Council

ACLU Calls On Administration To Use Position To Reaffirm U.S. Commitment To Human Rights At Home And Abroad

NEW YORK

The
United States was today elected to a seat on the United Nations Human
Rights Council for the first time. The American Civil Liberties Union
welcomed the new administration's decision to join the Council, which
has been shunned by the Bush administration.

The following can be attributed to Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program:

"While the new administration has
yet to address several key human rights issues facing this country, we
are pleased that the U.S. will have a seat at the table of the top U.N.
human rights body. This is a promising step toward affirming our
commitment to human rights not only abroad, but also at home. By
restoring and protecting human rights in this country, America will
once again become a nation that leads by example. From this position,
we are hopeful the Obama administration will honor and expand its human
rights commitments and fully incorporate human rights into U.S.
domestic policy. U.S. credibility abroad will be judged by our concrete
actions to protect and promote human rights in our own backyard."

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

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