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For Immediate Release
June, 04 2009, 03:46pm EDT
Contact:
Brenda Bowser Soder
(202) 370-3323,
bowsersoderb@humanrightsfirst.org
As International Hate Crimes Escalate, Human Rights First Urges Senate to Strengthen US Laws
Passage of Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act Provides Crucial Protections, Offers United States the Opportunity to Lead by Example
WASHINGTON
Human Rights First (HRF) is urging the U.S. Senate to pass
legislation that would strengthen protections against hate crimes
throughout the nation and abroad. According to a letter sent to
Senators today, passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention
Act (S. 909) would fortify existing laws by permitting federal
authorities to assist local and state governments in hate crimes
investigations, a step that enables the United States to demonstrate
its commitment to fighting hate crimes at home and lead by example
abroad.
"Hate crimes are on the rise in the United States and around the
world," said Paul LeGendre, Director of HRF's Fighting Discrimination
Program. "In addition to giving U.S. authorities the tools they need to
combat bias-motivated violence and protect Americans from a pernicious
form of discrimination, this legislation will allow the United States
to lead by example and help other nations combat these harmful acts of
violence."
In 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigations documented 7,624 U.S.
hate crimes directed against institutions and individuals because of
their race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or
disability. According to HRF's 2008 Hate Crimes Survey,
similar crimes are on the rise across Europe and the former Soviet
Union, a region where the majority of governments are failing to
adequately address the problem. Though the United States has led
efforts to confront this scourge through its foreign policy and
engagement in multilateral institutions such as the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, HRF today told the Senate that
passage of S. 909 would carry significant weight to encourage foreign
leaders to toughen their own hate crimes response.
"Behind the statistics are individuals, families, and communities
deeply impacted by these violent crimes. By undermining the shared
value of equality and nondiscrimination, violent hate crimes also
threaten the very fabric of the increasingly diverse society in which
we live," HRF Chief Executive Officer Elisa Massimino wrote in the
organization's letter to the Senate.
"Enactment of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act would
demonstrate enhanced global leadership by the United States on this
issue, enabling the United States more effectively to encourage other
governments to strengthen their responses to hate crimes."
The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act has been endorsed by 26 state
Attorneys General, a number of the nation's most important law
enforcement organizations, more than 275 national civil rights,
professional, civic, education, and religious groups. The Senate
expects to take up this measure within the coming weeks. A similar bill
won widespread support in the 110th Congress, including 60 Senate
votes. Last month, by a vote of 249-175, the U.S. House of
Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate
Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1913), its own version of S. 909. The Obama
Administration has indicated that it supports the bill and plans to
sign it into law.
Human Rights First is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.
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"The Trump administration is trying to take us back in time with its reckless fossil fuels agenda."
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The decision by the US Interior Department, led by billionaire fossil fuel industry ally Doug Burgum, targets the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). Last year, the Biden administration finalized rules that shielded more than half of the 23-million-acre NPR-A from drilling.
Conservationists were quick to condemn the repeal of the rules as a move that prioritizes the profits of oil and gas corporations over wildlife, pristine land, and the climate.
Monica Scherer, senior director of campaigns at Alaska Wilderness League, ripped the administration for ignoring the hundreds of thousands of people who engaged in the public comment process and spoke out against the gutting of NPR-A protections.
“Today’s actions make one thing painfully clear: this administration never had any intention of listening to the American people," Scherer said Thursday. "By dismantling these protections, Interior isn’t ‘restoring common sense,’ it’s sidelining science and traditional knowledge, silencing communities, and putting irreplaceable lands and wildlife at risk."
Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe called the administration's weakening of Arctic protections "another example of how the Trump administration is trying to take us back in time with its reckless fossil fuels agenda."
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Thursday's move came less than a month after the Trump administration announced plans to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. At the time, Burgum declared, "Alaska is open for business."
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Bobby McEnaney, director of land conservation at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Thursday that the Trump administration's latest attack on Arctic protections "is nothing more than a giveaway to the oil and gas industry."
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The countries that supplied the most crude oil were Azerbaijan through Turkey and Kazakhstan through Russia, accounting for around 70% of shipments. Russia supplied the most refined oil at nearly 1.5 million metric tons, followed by Greece at over 0.5 million metric tons and the US at over 0.4 million metric tons. However, the US was the only country that supplied Israel with JP-8, a specialized military jet fuel.
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The report argued that the nations who sent oil to Israel acted in violation of their obligations under international law, with some continuing the shipments even after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said that Israel's actions were illegal in July 2024 and a United Nations commission determined that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza in September 2025.
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"We don't want any single drop of oil to get to Israel."
"Behind every barrel of oil is a trace of blood and behind every shipment is a logistic of genocide, and we need to recognize how it all starts, and we need to recognize the complicity of the companies, the corporations, and the governments that continue acting, especially in spaces such as COP," Usrof said during the briefing.
At the same time, advocates noted that the same fossil fuel companies profit from both climate collapse and genocide.
"The fossil fuel industry lies at the core of today’s global crisis, driving climate collapse, militarization, and genocide. The same system that burns the planet also fuels Israel’s genocidal machine and upholds its colonial regime of illegal occupation and apartheid," said Ana Sánchez, general coordinator for the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, in a statement.
Sánchez continued: "From oil fields to shipping routes, fossil capitalism turns profit into power over life itself. At COP30, we remind the world that energy justice is inseparable from liberation: ending these fuel flows is not just a moral imperative but a necessary act of decolonization. People everywhere are rising to build a new global order that puts life above the privilege of business as usual.”
In particular, the panelists held up the example of workers in Italy who conducted general strikes in solidarity with Gaza.
Partly inspired by the Italian strikes, Lanfredi said his trade union had recently voted to oppose any oil reaching Israel from Brazil.
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Usrof encouraged people living in all complicit countries to "realize that they have the power to resist at the docks, at each of the conduits of power, the conduits of oil and gas and energy in general."
Shady Khalil of Oil Change International concluded: "The call is clear: We are calling for countries to act on their legal and moral obligation to stop providing fossil fuel to Israel and stop contributing to this genocide and join their people."
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