Under scrutiny

In an unprecedented mission on American soil, a United Nations human rights
expert who investigates executions deemed arbitrary will examine America's
use of the death penalty as well as violence and killings by police. Over a
twoweek period ending in early October, the expert will be meeting local,
state and federal officials, death row inmates, scholars, and others in a
halfdozen US cities, including the nation's capital, New York City, and
Los Angeles. While the investigator a Senegalese lawyer has
Washington's permission to examine possible violations of international
human rights law inside the United States, some rights activists,
particularly Human Rights Watch, complain that the federal government has
not made the mission a high priority. The investigator will report his
findings and recommendations for action to the UN Human Rights Commission
in the spring. Then the US government will have its opportunity to respond.