Before and after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. government failed to live up to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, adopted by the United Nations in 1998 to protect the rights of people uprooted by conflict and calamity, says a new study by the Institute for Southern Studies. The government's insufficient efforts to prevent families from being uprooted, its inadequate emergency response and the still-lagging recovery are at odds with internationally recognized human-rights principles that the Bush administration has promoted in other countries, says the study.

"Leaders in Washington have embraced the U.N. Guiding Principles for helping disaster victims abroad," said Chris Kromm, co-author of the study and Institute director. "But there's serious concern that the Principles continue to be ignored at home in the Gulf Coast." The report comes as Walter Kälin -- representative of the United Nations Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons -- begins a series of meetings with local officials and residents in New Orleans, Houston and Mississippi. The report is downloadable on the Institute's Web site.

Institute for Southern Studies

   

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