Arent Fox LLP is proud to announce that Pierre-Richard Prosper, counsel at Arent Fox’s Los Angeles office, has been sworn in as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the world’s oldest human rights treaty body. Ambassador Prosper was sworn in during the committee’s most recent session, which was held from February 18 to March 7, 2008 in Geneva Switzerland.

At the United Nations in New York on January 17 the State Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by an overwhelming majority elected Ambassador Prosper to serve on the committee as one of 18 international experts and the only American. As an elected member of the Committee, Ambassador Prosper will serve a four year term. Prior to his election, he was appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to serve on the Committee as an interim member.

“It is a great honor and immensely gratifying to have been elected to such an important and worthy body as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,” said Ambassador Prosper. “The elimination of racial, ethnic and other forms of discrimination in the world, which are the root of many of the most egregious conflicts in the world today, is not merely the goal of idealists. It is the promise of basic human rights, equality, and dignity for all peoples. It is an essential element to the cause of pursuing peace and global stability.”

At the recent three-week meeting held at Palais Wilson in Geneva the Committee reviewed the anti-discrimination efforts undertaken by the governments of the Belgium, Fiji, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and assessed the emergency situation in Kenya among others.

The Committee also reviewed the United States’ periodic report on US anti-discrimination efforts and “noted with satisfaction the work carried out by executive departments and agencies in the field of the elimination of racial discrimination.” The Committee welcomed the 2005 re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the 2006 re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act and No Child Left Behind Act. In addition to the various programs adopted by the US Department of Health and Human Services to address persistent health disparities affecting low-income persons belonging to racial, ethnic and national minorities, the Committee commended the 2007 launch of the E-RACE Initiative, aimed at raising awareness on the issue of racial discrimination in the workplace.

Ambassador Prosper’s service on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is the latest example of Arent Fox’s international pro bono efforts. Last year Ambassador Prosper was the chair of a 59-person international election observation mission to Nigeria to monitor the countries historical presidential elections. In December, Robert C. O’Brien, the partner-in-charge of Arent Fox’s Los Angeles office, was named by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to co-chair the Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, an initiative by America’s legal community to help develop the rule of law in Afghanistan.

About Pierre-Richard Prosper

Prior to joining Arent Fox, Ambassador Prosper was the US ambassador-at-large in charge of the secretary of state’s Office of War Crimes Issues. He was appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush and, after being unanimously confirmed by the US Senate, served until October 2005.

As the president’s envoy, Ambassador Prosper worked to build support for US policies. In this capacity, Ambassador Prosper formulated and coordinated US policy responses to atrocities and attacks against civilians throughout the world. He reported directly to Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice and advised the US president and the principals of the National Security Council. After September 11, 2001, Ambassador Prosper played a key role in developing policy in the War on Terror. He was also the lead diplomat and chief US negotiator responsible for engaging nations regarding their nationals captured in combat.

From 1999 to 2001, Ambassador Prosper worked in the State Department, where he served as a special counsel and policy adviser on war crimes issues.

From 1996 to late 1998, Ambassador Prosper was a war crimes prosecutor for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. While working and living in Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide, he was appointed lead trial attorney and prosecuted Prosecutor vs. Jean-Paul Akayesu, the first case of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention. He won additional convictions for crimes against humanity and broke new ground in international law by convincing the UN Tribunal, for the first time, to recognize rape as an act of genocide and a crime against humanity.

Between 1994 and 1996 Ambassador Prosper was assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. Prior to becoming an assistant US attorney, Ambassador Prosper was a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles, California between 1989 and 1994.

About the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The 18-member Committee of international experts was founded in 1969 by the State Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to ensure the nations who ratified the treaty fulfill their obligations under the agreement. To date, 173 nations have ratified the Convention. The Committee is the world’s oldest human rights treaty body.