TOM MALINOWSKI ON REMARKS IN MEXICO CITY ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Public Safety and Access to Justice
Remarks
Tom Malinowski
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Open Government Partnership Steering Committee Ministerial
Mexico City, Mexico
April 23, 2015

As prepared for delivery

Thank you all for having me here. This is a timely gathering. Public safety and access to justice are high priority issues in the minds of many civil society representatives in the United States and, I should say, in the minds of American citizens generally. It is no secret that the conduct of law enforcement has been a headline issue for us this last year. In the United States, we believe that an informed and engaged civil society is essential to ensuring that government faithfully discharges its duties to protect its citizens, to guarantee human rights, and to hold itself and its officials accountable for their actions. We know that we’re not perfect. But we are committed to improvement and to upholding institutions that allow us to address our shortcomings. In this spirit, we’re looking forward to sharing ideas and best practices so that we can all build, or restore, trust between people and their government.

Because in countries where citizens lack trust and confidence in their government, where they do not feel enfranchised in decisions affecting their lives, there are a range of costs. Some can be drawn to violent extremism, others to gangs and crime. Corruption is more likely to increase; police and judicial power more likely to be abused. Basic services are distributed unjustly. Innovation and entrepreneurship are stifled as elites focus their power on maintaining a status quo that enables their unjust enrichment. In such societies, the state may seem like it’s growing stronger at the expense of civil society, but in fact institutions that lose the trust of their people often turn out to be hollow. They are strong until the day they are not; they create turmoil and instability that affects their neighbors and the world.

OGP points the way to an alternative, to creating a space where government and civil society can work together – to build trust and to ensure transparent, accountable, citizen-enabled and innovation-powered governance. Last September, President Obama challenged us to support civil society at home and abroad. The strength and success of nations depends, the President has said, on allowing citizens to solve problems without government interference, and on robust engagement between governments and civil society to advance shared goals.

One of OGP’s grand challenges, around which participants are encouraged to develop commitments, is “Promoting Safer Communities.” This is the most undersubscribed of OGP’s grand challenges, yet it is one of the most critical challenges facing countries in every corner of the world, in part because civilian insecurity can express itself in so many different ways—in gang violence and organized crime, in violent extremism, or officials who are complicit in corruption and human rights violations. Across a range of countries and communities, the security and justice sectors may be simply inadequate in creating secure conditions, guaranteeing access to justice, and protecting against human rights abuses. This creates space for crime and extremism to flourish and limits the potential for individual opportunity and economic growth. And ultimately, the persistence of these conditions can undermine the stability of the political system itself.

There is growing interest among civil society organizations in increasing OGP’s focus on this challenge area, and related issues such as access to justice and the promotion and protection of human rights. Transparency International’s new initiative on Safer Communities in Latin America is one example of how civil society and governments can work toward common goals – and I hope Cecilia will be able to share some of the ideas of this groundbreaking effort. With such examples in mind, we are hoping to start a discussion to explore how OGP can help advance the community security challenge.

In my country, events of the past year have called us to take a fresh look at questions of public safety, access to justice, and the need to strengthen police-community relations. In Ferguson, Missouri, public demonstrations and civil society interventions drew the nation’s attention to the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown and to concerns about the practices of the Ferguson Police Department. In addition to opening civil and criminal investigations, our Department of Justice sent mediators to create a dialogue between police, city officials, and residents to reduce tension in the community. In addition, DOJ is involved in a voluntary, independent, and objective assessment of the St. Louis County Police Department, looking at training, use of force, handling of mass demonstrations, and other areas where reform may be needed.

As President Obama has said, “[t]he fact is, in too many parts of (the United States), a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color.” At the President’s request, the Attorney General convened roundtable discussions among law enforcement, elected officials, and community members in six cities in December 2014 and January 2015. The President also appointed a Task Force on 21st Century Policing, made up of governmental and civil society members, which engaged a wide range of state, local, and tribal officials; subject matter experts; and community and faith leaders to develop a series of recommendations on how to strengthen public trust and foster strong relationships between local law enforcement and the communities they protect.

As we continue to strive for what our founding fathers termed “a more perfect union,” we encourage you both to make suggestions to us on what has worked for you in addressing such challenges and to consider what in this example may work in your country contexts.

We also want to hear your thoughts on how this set of issues manifests in different regions and countries. How, in your experience, do open government initiatives strengthen public safety and access to justice? Are there ways for OGP to encourage more countries to commit to improvements in this area? And if we consider access to justice and promotion and protection of human rights core parts of the open government agenda, should we build more robust evaluations into the IRM assessment? Finally, we need to come out of this session with more than great thoughts. We invite your specific recommendations on how OGP can empower citizens to play a role in ensuring accountability in the security and justice sectors.

It’s a lot to think about so with that, I’d like to turn to Cecilia for her remarks before we open up the floor for discussion.

NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT WILL BE TRANSFORMED

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Friday, January 11, 2013

Court Finalizes Consent Decree to Transform the New Orleans Police Department

Today, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana entered an order granting the joint motion of the United States and the city of New Orleans to enter the consent decree regarding the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). This order is a critical milestone in reforming the long-troubled NOPD and is an important step in dealing with the public safety crisis in New Orleans and in restoring community confidence in the New Orleans criminal justice system. The court’s order ensures critical changes to policy and practices, oversight by a federal monitor and transparency so that the community can continue to participate in and track the reform process. The order finalizes this binding agreement that was extensively negotiated between the department and the city, and allows for that agreement’s immediate implementation. The department and the city signed the agreement in July 2012.

"The Department of Justice appreciates the court’s careful attention to this matter," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "The court’s action today ensures that the people of New Orleans will have a police department that respects the Constitution, ensures public safety and earns the confidence of the community. This decree will provide the city with important tools to reduce crime, ensure effective, constitutional policing and restore public confidence in NOPD."

As outlined in the court’s order, approval of the consent decree comes after thorough review of the consent decree to determine if it is fair, reasonable and adequate to address the long-standing constitutional deficiencies within NOPD. The review included hearing extensive testimony from the United States, the city, the Office of the Independent Police Monitor, the Fraternal Order of Police and the Police Association of New Orleans and many other New Orleans stakeholders and residents. The testimony reaffirmed both that NOPD engages in unconstitutional conduct, and that there is a public safety crisis in New Orleans that the NOPD can only address by implementing the reforms required by the decree.

The court’s approval of the consent decree comes at a time of continuing and serious public safety challenges in New Orleans.

"The deficiencies within NOPD that the Department of Justice identified during its extensive investigation continue to plague New Orleans," said Assistant Attorney General Perez. "Time is of the essence. We look forward to the immediate implementation of the agreement, and stand ready to work with all stakeholders in New Orleans to continue the reform process."

The department opened an investigation into NOPD in May 2010 after Mayor Landrieu asked for the department’s help with a complete transformation of NOPD. After a thorough investigation of NOPD’s policies and practices the department issued a letter of findings in March 2011 that outlined a pattern of unconstitutional conduct and violations of federal law that stemmed from entrenched practices within NOPD. These constitutional violations include use of excessive force; unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests, and; discriminatory and biased policing based on gender, race, national origin and sexual orientation.

"In his first days in office, Mayor Landrieu called for a comprehensive federal civil rights investigation of NOPD, and said that ‘nothing short of the complete transformation is necessary and essential to ensure safety for the citizens of New Orleans.’ This consent decree provides the roadmap for the complete transformation of NOPD," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

HUMAN ACTIVITY IS DRIVING SPREAD OF DISEASES



American robins play a key role in the spread of West Nile virus.  Credit:  NSF.

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Emerging Vector-Borne Diseases Create New Public Health Challenge
Land-use change, globalization of trade and travel, and social upheaval drive emergence of diseases
Human activities are advancing the spread of vector-borne, zoonotic diseases such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease and dengue fever, report scientists publishing a series of papers today in the journal The Lancet.

Vector-borne zoonotic diseases result from disease-causing agents or pathogens that naturally infect wildlife, and are transmitted to humans by carriers such as mosquitoes and ticks. In short, they're diseases transmitted between animals and humans.

Widespread land-use change, globalization of trade and travel, and social upheaval are driving the emergence of zoonotic diseases around the world, said biologist Marm Kilpatrick, who studies the ecology of infectious diseases at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Kilpatrick co-authored one of several papers in The Lancet, along with Sarah Randolph of the University of Oxford. The Lancet papers are part of a special series in the journal focused on emerging zoonotic diseases.

"Increasing human population, and the urbanization and agricultural intensification of landscapes, put strong selective pressure on vector-borne pathogens to infect humans--and to be transmitted by vectors and hosts that live around humans," Kilpatrick said.

"Humans are altering the environment and moving ourselves and other organisms around the globe at an ever-increasing pace," said Sam Scheiner, a program director for the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program at the National Science Foundation. "Our fast-track has led to a growing disease threat."

EEID is a joint effort with NSF and the National Institutes of Health. At NSF, the Directorate for Biological Sciences and Directorate for Geosciences fund the program.

EEID funded much of the research discussed in The Lancet papers. "These papers show how and why zoonotic diseases are emerging, and what we need to know to ease the disease burden," said Scheiner.

The papers "offer a bridge between ecologists and clinicians whose combined efforts are needed to address the ongoing challenges of emerging zoonotic diseases," said Kilpatrick.

Added scientist Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance in New York City and author of a paper in the series, "Pandemic zoonoses such as SARS, Ebola and HIV/AIDS are devastating when they emerge. What this series shows is that we have new ways of predicting their origins, of discovering them even before they reach our population--truly a brave new world for pandemic prevention."

There are roughly two types of emerging infectious diseases: introduced and locally emerging.

Introduced diseases arise from the spread of a pathogen to a new location, as when West Nile virus arrived in New York in 1999 and subsequently spread across North America.

Locally emerging diseases increase in importance in areas where they are endemic, as with Lyme disease in the United States during the past three decades.

These two types of emerging diseases can differ markedly with respect to infection dynamics or the number of cases over time, Kilpatrick said.

"Introduced diseases often cause a big spike in infections, and then decrease substantially. Locally emerging diseases often show a steady, sustained rise."

The movement of pathogens by global trade and travel results in the emergence of diseases in new regions.

Once established, introduced pathogens often evolve to take advantage of their new environments, including new hosts and vectors.

With much of the landscape shaped by human activities, pathogens may thrive by infecting hosts and vectors that do well in man-made environments.

Emergence of endemic vector-borne diseases can result from changes in land use, such as movement of people into new habitats, or environmental changes that affect wild animals that serve as natural hosts--and the insect vectors that spread the disease to humans.

Although vector-borne diseases are sensitive to climate, climate change does not appear to be a major driving force behind emerging diseases.

"So far, climate change has been a relatively minor player compared to land use and socioeconomic factors in the emergence of vector-borne disease," Kilpatrick said.

Social and economic changes, ranging from economic downturns to displacement of populations by armed conflict, frequently precipitate disease outbreaks through their effects on public health systems, sanitation systems, behavioral patterns and uses of natural environmental resources.

The incidence of any vector-borne disease involves a complex interplay of multiple factors affecting animal hosts, vectors and people.

Kilpatrick and Randolph emphasize that control of these diseases requires combined efforts by clinicians and public health officials to treat patients; promote behavior likely to minimize the risk of infection; and advise on efforts to reverse the ecological drivers of transmission through vector control, urban planning and ecological restoration.

The Lancet papers are published ahead of a special 20th anniversary symposium to be held on Dec. 11 and 12, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

The symposium is hosted by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine's Forum on Microbial Threats. The symposium will take a retrospective look at the Institute of Medicine's 1992 report on Emerging Infections and its 2003 report on Microbial Threats to Health, as well as its creation of the forum in 1996.