Civil Rights Division National Origin Working Group
Initiative to Combat Post-Terrorism Discrimination
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
25 September 2001
The
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights has directed the Civil Rights
Division's National Origin Working Group to help combat violations of
federal civil and criminal rights laws affecting individuals perceived to
be of Middle Eastern descent.
Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States,
incidents of bias, including hate crimes, assaults and vandalism against
individuals perceived to be of Middle Eastern origin have been on the
rise. These incidents are targeted primarily at Arab Americans, Muslim
Americans, Sikh Americans and South Asian Americans.
The Working Group will seek to combat discrimination by: (1) receiving
reports of violations based on national origin, citizenship status and
religion, including those related to housing, education, employment,
access to government services, and law enforcement, and referring them to
the appropriate federal authorities; (2) conducting outreach to vulnerable
communities to provide them with information about Department of Justice
services and connect them with other government agencies that can assist
them; and (3) working with other Department of Justice components and
other governmental agencies to ensure accurate referral, effective
outreach and provision of services to victims of civil rights violations.
Please review the brochure listed below for more information about federal
laws prohibiting national origin discrimination, and for contact
information to file complaints (Portable Document Format (PDF) files may
be viewed with a free copy of Adobe
Acrobat Reader
"Federal Protections Against National Origin Discrimination":
available in Arabic.
Links to:
White
House News and InformationHow
you can help
FBI Civil
Rights ProgramDepartment
of Justice Statements
Other Statements: White
House; Department
of Education ; Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission |