Report: U.S. fails on anti-discrimination

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A human rights group said the United States has failed to comply with its obligations under an international treaty to end racial discrimination.

Human Rights Watch said it documented U.S. non-compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICE RD) in seven key areas, the non-profit group said Thursday in a release.

The 1994 treaty requires "affirmative steps to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin in all areas of public life."

The HRW report said that in some states African-American youth arrested for homicide are at least three times more likely than white youth arrested for the crime to receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. Researchers also found that African-American and Native American students in U.S. public schools receive corporal punishment at rates significantly higher than white students.

The group criticized U.S. policies that treat Haitian refugees seeking admission to the United States less favorably than Cuban refugees, as well as policies related to U.S. military detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.