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	The need to abolish extortionate Criminal Fines and Fees by Komala Ramachandra JURIST, University of Pittsburgh USA   Sep. 2020   Nationwide protests in response to the brutal murder of George Floyd have put a spotlight on the profound injustices of the criminal legal system. Much of the criticism has rightly focused on the abuses in policing and incarceration. But along with abusive policing, another urgent threat that impoverished communities face under this system is the growing financial burden of extortionate fines and fees.   This regressive source of revenue funds the legal system by extracting resources from low-income Black and brown people, who are already trapped in vicious cycles of criminalization and poverty.   The severe economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 has increased the need for vigilance. State and local authorities may be tempted to take the same steps they took after the 2008 financial crisis, increasing criminal fines and fees to generate revenue to cover their budget shortfalls.   As policymakers begin to rethink policing, they should also address other problematic government policies, including relying on this source of funding, that magnify systemic inequality.   Local governments impose fines and fees for everything- from criminal charges to parking infractions, and violations of trivial municipal code requirements. After the 2008 financial crisis, cities and counties in 48 states increased their use of fines and fees to fund both the criminal legal system and other government functions.   This creates a tiered-justice system, privileging those who can pay to escape the system and trapping those who cannot. Low-income communities are essentially taxed to keep the system afloat, paying for the abusive policing and incarceration practices that impose ever greater financial burdens on them.   People living in poverty are doubly impacted. Police are more likely to be present in low-income and gentrifying communities, often those with a large percentage of people of color, and the greater contact with the police leads to higher rates of arrest. People without means are not only saddled with unpayable fines and fees, but are also targeted by the police to collect arrears.   Judges, police and probation officers effectively become revenue collectors. And because many of these funds go back into running the courts and law enforcement, they create perverse incentives to retain people in the criminal legal system and to wring as much revenue as possible from them in each case.   When a person cannot pay their fees and fines, they can suffer myriad consequences like new or additional probation requirements, suspension of drivers’ licenses, and obstacles to exercising voting rights.   I’ve spoken to dozens of people in different states, being supervised by private probation companies who were struggling to keep up with their court costs, fines and supervision fees. Often, they also had to pay for probation requirements, like ankle monitors, drug testing and treatment, and courses. Many said that they were afraid to report to their probation officers as required because they knew they’d be threatened if they couldn’t make their payments.   If they missed a payment, they could be slapped with late fees or other penalties, like suspended drivers’ licenses, making it harder to work or to meet the probation requirements. And in many cases that I saw, failing to appear or pay would snowball into court appearances, extended probation sentences, warrants for arrest, and even jail time. All of these would irrationally pile on even more fines and fees.   The Justice Department’s investigation into the police department of Ferguson, Missouri, found the city’s reliance on this source of income, and it was discovered that harsh penalties for failure to pay resulted in aggressive police action to enforce the municipal code, undermining public trust and safety. Instead of waiving costs for those who can’t pay, judges would often put people on payment plans that actually increased their costs and for some, send them into a state-sanctioned debt trap.   The economic recession sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic means that state and local governments may face budget shortfalls even greater than after the 2008 financial crisis. Many local governments laid off staff following the 2008 crisis, in some cases even reducing their police departments.   When the pandemic hit, many cities and counties had still not returned to pre-2008 spending levels, particularly for education and infrastructure. In the current crisis, cities and counties are expected to lose billions of dollars in revenue and face massive budget shortfalls. Not only will millions of municipal and county workers face loss of jobs, but deficits could affect a wide range of services, including sanitation, mental health services, policing and education.   Local governments will be hard-pressed to fill budget gaps. Tax revenues from property and sales have declined during the pandemic. Many state and local governments also have rules limiting their ability to increase taxes or spending. Greater reliance on criminal fees and fines would shift the burden of the budget to those least able to pay, repeating the mistakes of the 2008 crisis.   As policymakers move to fundamentally rethink policing, they should look at all systems that unnecessarily criminalize people and perpetuate inequality. Divesting resources from the police and reinvesting in social services is a critical step to ending the abuses in the criminal legal system.   This would help address underlying issues of poverty, homelessness, problematic drug use and mental health, instead of compounding them through unnecessary policing paid for by extracting resources from impoverished communities.   As Congress negotiates a new COVID-19 response and economic relief bill, it should include support for state and local governments so that they are not forced to slash social services. State and federal assistance should have clear guidelines on directing aid to those people who have been most affected during the crisis, and should be critically tied to local governments’ commitment to not create or expand excessive criminal fines and fees.   State and local governments should promptly commit to ending their inequitable reliance on this source of revenue. Local court systems should divest from probation by reducing the length and number of conditions, and move toward true alternatives to incarceration, including unconditional discharges and proportionate and flexible community service requirements.   Local governments and courts should also put in place clear guidelines that prevent overburdening people living in poverty, including assessing a person’s ability to pay before imposing fines and fees. Courts should use a sliding scale for those who are unable to pay the full cost of probation and other court-mandated requirements, or waive them entirely for those who cannot afford them.   States should instead consider increasing revenue through fairer means, including removing restrictions on spending and tax increases and putting in place more progressive tax systems.   * Komala Ramachandra is a senior business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. Visit the related web page
	Urgent action needed to protect people's human rights by OHCHR, UN Human Rights Council   Sep. 2020   45th session of the Human Rights Council, update on the human rights impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner to Human Rights:   The world has rarely experienced a simultaneous, global shock as complex as COVID-19. No country has been spared, yet the pandemic's medical, social and economic consequences vary widely. I am convinced that for countries across the income spectrum, human rights-based policies can help to shift these impacts from devastating, to manageable; and contribute to a recovery with better protection and greater resilience.   Although COVID-19 continues to spread, temporary furlough arrangements and other income-support measures are coming to an end in several States, as they struggle to re-open schools, training programmes, and entire sectors of the economy. But while some countries seem to be emerging out of at least the first stage of the pandemic, ready to begin building back, others have been far worse hit – and their prospects for recovery are not the same. A number are living through something like a second wave.   A number of States were able to count on adaptable human rights based systems for key services, such as healthcare and social protections. I cannot overstate the importance of these pre-existing systems for the delivery of fundamental rights, shielding people from the worst impacts of temporary crises; and helping them get back on their feet.   To learn from what went right, we must look at what went wrong. Today’s multifaceted crisis has unmasked the strong link between race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and health outcomes.   Pre-existing inequalities should be contextualized within historical, political, social and economic spaces, and be effectively addressed to build back better with equality and quality.   In today’s context, social protection represents a critical tool for facilitating access to health care, protecting people against poverty and ensuring the satisfaction of basic economic and social rights. In 2017, ILO showed that a universal social protection scheme that includes allowances for all children; maternity benefits for all women with newborns; benefits for all persons with severe disabilities; and universal old-age pensions will cost an average 1.6 per cent of a developing country's GDP.   The facts are clear, and lives – everywhere – are on the line. States should be encouraged and assisted to provide universal systems to deliver quality healthcare and social protection to all.   International cooperation and support can be extended to facilitate the expansion of fiscal space for States, by extending stimulus packages to save lives and livelihoods.   This is building capacity at the national level, to enable countries to build back by financing their healthcare and social protection systems with public funds.   Fiscal space can be further expanded by pursuing progressive taxation and ruling out austerity policies and privatization of public services.   Women are being severely impacted by this crisis. Earlier this month, a study by UNWOMEN and UNDP estimated that by 2021, around 435 million women and girls will be living on less than US$1.90 a day — including 47 million who have been pushed into poverty by COVID-19.   According to the report, differences in vulnerability to the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic could mean that next year, there will be 118 women in poverty for every 100 men. The very sharp rise in domestic violence which has been reported across every region is also profoundly alarming.   No country has been spared the blows of this pandemic. And as the Secretary-General has noted, "at a time when we desperately need to leap ahead, COVID-19 could set us back years, and even decades".   There is an enormous range of work ahead, and much of it will rest on global solidarity and cooperation. We all share an interest in ensuring that everyone has access to a safe and affordable vaccine, universal health coverage, social protection and other fundamental rights.   To date, some States have demonstrated deep mistrust of their people – repressing criticism, limiting freedom of information and cracking down on the civic space. These and other human rights violations have undermined public health, as well as human rights and the prospect of a strong and sustainable recovery.   As we have learned from experience in many other viral epidemics – from HIV to Zika and Ebola – measures to support and promote human rights make for much more effective policies for public health. They are also the most powerful drivers of peace, security, social stability, healthy environment and the continuation of sustainable development.   Sep. 2020   45th session of the Human Rights Council: Global Human Rights Update, High Commissioner calls for urgent action to heighten resilience and protect people's rights:   In a context of sharply escalating suffering and turmoil across the world, human rights principles, norms and actions offer effective solutions to build stronger resilience to shocks, and counter despair, by preventing social, economic and political instability.   Policies that deliver universal and equal access to social protections and health care; institutions which promote respect for the views and rights of all members of society; and laws that require accountable policing and access to justice help to avert the escalation of tensions and grievances into violence and conflict.   This human rights-based approach supports greater social and economic resilience. It is the foundation of prosperity and political stability. And it protects vulnerable people from the worst impacts of crises.   With COVID-19, a fast-moving and global health crisis has collided with many slower, and more entrenched, political, social and economic crises around the world.   Those multiple underlying fractures, which have made us more vulnerable to this virus – and create entry points for its harms – result primarily from political processes that exclude people's voices, as well as gaps in human rights protection.   As international human rights bodies, and in line with the Secretary-General's Call to Action for Human Rights, I believe it is the responsibility of both this Council and my Office to promote those measures that will help States better protect the well-being of their peoples, and to cooperate with States to ensure they fulfil their obligations in this regard.   In many of the country situations I will outline this morning, I see important opportunities for us to assist States to devise human rights-based action that can de-escalate tensions; support sustainable development; and preserve people's well-being – even at this challenging time: http://bit.ly/2FBm0Qx   Sep. 2020   UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria: Armed actors continue to subject civilians to horrific and increasingly targeted abuse   Syrians continue to be killed, suffer severe hardships and grave rights violations, despite a relative reduction in largescale hostilities since the 5 March ceasefire, according to the latest findings of the UN Syrian Commission of Inquiry.   The Commission of Inquiry's 25-page report released today documents continuing violations and abuses by nearly every conflict actor controlling territory in Syria. It also highlights an increase in patterns of targeted abuses such as assassinations, sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, and looting or appropriation of private property, with sectarian undertones. Civilian suffering is a constant and personal feature of this crisis.   Following the July release of a special investigation into Idlib and surrounding areas, the present report focuses on violations happening away from the epicentres of large-scale hostilities during the first half of 2020.   Nearly a decade into the conflict, enforced disappearance and deprivation of liberty continue to be instrumentalized by almost all parties to instil fear and supress dissent among the civilian population or simply as extortion for financial gain.   The report documents a multitude of detention-related violations by Government forces, the Syrian National Army (SNA), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and other parties to the conflict. http://bit.ly/3c49oxq   Sep. 2020   UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen 3rd report: A Pandemic of Impunity in a Tortured Land   After six unremitting years of armed conflict, all parties continue to show no regard for international law or the lives, dignity, and rights of people in Yemen, according to the third report of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, which has been released today.   The Group of Experts has released its third report, titled ‘Yemen: A Pandemic of Impunity in a Tortured Land’ on the situation of human rights in Yemen, covering the period from July 2019 to June 2020, the official version of which will be presented to the Human Rights Council in its 45th session, on 29 September 2020.   The report investigated a number of incidents during the period covered, and also took a longer temporal scope, going back to as early as the beginning of the conflict in 2014, when deemed necessary for investigations and establishing facts for some categories of the investigated violations.   In its report, the Group of Experts has established that all parties to the conflict have continued to commit a range of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, noting a consistent pattern of harm to civilians that not only occurs in the context of hostilities, but also away from the front lines.   The Group of Experts stressed that there are no clean hands in this conflict. The responsibility for violations rests with all parties to the conflict. In its findings, the report concluded that violations have been committed by the Government of Yemen, the Houthis, the Southern Transitional Council, as well as members of the Coalition, which is led by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.   The verified human rights violations include arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, gender-based violence, including sexual violence, torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the recruitment and use in hostilities of children, the denial of fair trial rights, violations of fundamental freedoms, and economic, social and cultural rights.   The Group of Experts has concluded that some of the airstrikes conducted by the Coalition appear to have been undertaken without proper regard to principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution to protect civilians and civilian objects. It also concluded that indiscriminate attacks have been carried out by both the Coalition and the Houthis, inflicting harm on civilians and civilian objects.   It notes that disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks constitute war crimes under customary international law. The Group of Experts also investigated the effects of landmines that were unlawfully planted by the Houthis.   Moreover, the Group of Experts concluded that parties were responsible for other violations of international humanitarian law, in particular the murder of civilians, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence, outrages upon personal dignity, denial of fair trial, and enlisting children under the age of 15 or using them to participate actively in hostilities, that may amount to war crimes.   “Yemen remains a tortured land, with its people ravaged in ways that should shock the conscience of humanity,” said Kamel Jendoubi, the Chairperson of the Group of Experts. http://bit.ly/3hGMTQk http://bit.ly/3iyFIuI   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session45/Pages/ListReports.aspx http://bit.ly/2FBm0Qx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/COVID-19.aspx http://www.icj.org/human-rights-in-the-time-of-covid-19-front-and-centre/   * A rights-based approach to social protection in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery, report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Poverty/covid19.pdf   * The Right to a Healthy Environment - An appeal to the Human Rights Council to recognize without delay the right of all to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment was shared with all member states ahead of HRC45. The appeal, entitled “The Time Is Now“, was signed by more than 850 organizations from civil society, social, environmental, youth, gender equality and human rights movements, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, from more than 100 countries.   The planetary crises of climate, biodiversity loss and the COVID-19 pandemic show us the devastating costs of the way we have treated our common home, our planet. As claimed around the world, the post-COVID recovery must be a green recovery, with the human right to a healthy natural environment, already widely acknowledged at the national and regional levels (in 156 out of 193 of the UN Member States), at its core. By filling this gap in international human rights law, this recognition will highlight that human rights have to be guaranteed and effective in the face of environmental challenges:   http://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/environment-45th-session-of-the-un-human-rights-council/ http://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Global-Call-for-the-UN-to-Recognize-the-Right-to-a-Healthy-Environment-English.pdf Visit the related web page
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