DETROIT, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - Detroit water shutoffs have a disproportional impact on the low income African American population, UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Leilani Farha told reporters at a press-conference in Detroit.
“The issue of discrimination is the key area of concern that we have. We are in the city of Detroit where the percentage of African Americans is 80 [percent] and the percentage of African Americans living in poverty in this city is 40 percent. It does not surprise us, but we are deeply, deeply concerned,” Farha said Monday.
The UN special rapporteur stressed that African Americans in Detroit should not face critical choices such as to pay their rent or water bills, pay for medical expenses or water bills, underscoring the human rights implications and obligations.
“We are concerned with the stigmatization that the people, who are facing water shut offs are experiencing,” the UN special rapporteur said.
The blue marks that the water department uses to mark houses for water disconnection are humiliating, because they “announce the public, the neighborhood, your community, your friends that you have inability to pay,” Farha added.
She stressed that the United States has ratified international human rights instruments that commit the country to ensuring people’s right to life and security, to have access to housing and water in a nondiscriminatory manner.
“The United States has ratified convention that talks about the elimination of racial discrimination. In that instrument the United States has said that they are committed to ensuring no one experiences racial discrimination in the areas that we have seen are problematic here [in Detroit], housing and water,” she said.
Public affairs spokesperson for Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department, Gregory Eno told RIA Novosti on October 17 that the water shutoffs in Detroit from January 1 through September 30 encompass 27,148 commercial and residential properties.
