A/HRC/56/68/Add.1 The Special Rapporteur welcomes some promising practices in this regard, such as reparations initiatives in California and attempts at the federal level to develop the H.R. 40 bill to establish a Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. However, she noted a lack of information received during her visit about concrete progress towards the adoption of a comprehensive reparatory justice approach that includes tangible reparations for slavery, colonialism and systemic racism. B. Voting rights 12. One of the ways that systemic racism and white supremacy are upheld is by blocking those from marginalized racial and ethnic groups from exercising and accumulating political power. The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned about multiple reports of sustained legislative measures at the state level that suppress the votes of eligible voters and about their disproportionate impact on racially marginalized groups, including people of African descent, Indigenous Peoples and persons of Latino/Hispanic origin.6 The 2013 United States Supreme Court decision in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder deemed section 4 (b) of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, an important piece of civil rights legislation, to be unconstitutional. Section 4 (b) of this legislation had provided the formula for determining which jurisdictions were covered under section 5 of the same law. Section 5 required jurisdictions that had a history of voting discrimination to obtain pre-clearance from the Attorney General or a federal court before implementing changes in election procedures and practices.7 The effect of the Shelby County decision was that jurisdictions that previously needed to seek pre-clearance for new voting changes no longer needed to do so.8 13. Over 100 pieces of state legislation, which have introduced measures that have led to the disenfranchisement of voters, disproportionately from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, have followed the Supreme Court’s ruling. This includes in states with a history of racial segregation under Jim Crow laws, such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.9 Provisions have mandated gerrymandering in a manner that can have a racially disparate impact, the continuation of voting restrictions for persons with felony convictions, restrictive voter ID laws, restricting access to polling by limiting the range of geographical locations and the time periods within which people can vote, the curtailment of early and absentee voting and the prohibition and criminalization of the provision of food and water to people waiting hours in lines to vote.10 In addition to legal assaults on the right to vote, there are reported cases of the intimidation of voters from racially marginalized groups and of election officials, including incidents involving firearms. 14. In response to such concerning trends, the Special Rapporteur commends Executive Order 14019, entitled Promoting Access to Voting, which directs federal agencies to identify and implement ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process. The Special Rapporteur also welcomes the development of draft legislation to update protection against voting discrimination, particularly the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. C. The equal right to education 15. Article 2 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination prohibits all forms of racial discrimination and bestows broad duties upon States parties to prevent, eliminate and remedy all forms of such discrimination. Moreover, 6 7 8 9 10 4 See CERD/C/USA/CO/10-12. United States Department of Justice, “Reflecting on the 10th anniversary of Shelby County v. Holder”, 23 June 2023. Southern Poverty Law Center, Alabama Forward and Florida Rising Together, joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, 12 September 2023, available at https://www.splcactionfund.org/sites/default/files/splc-voting-rights-report-iccpr.pdf. Ibid. See CCPR/C/USA/CO/5 and https://www.splcactionfund.org/sites/default/files/splc-voting-rightsreport-iccpr.pdf. GE.24-08027