Sacrifice Zone: Conciliating Racial Discrimination in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley" Under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Authors

Ellen Buerk

Recommended Citation

Ellen Buerk, Sacrifice Zone: Conciliating Racial Discrimination in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley" Under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 57 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 491 (2025)
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol57/iss1/15

Abstract

In June 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) abandoned its civil rights investigation into racially discriminatory practices by Louisiana state agencies in Cancer Alley. It did so after issuing initial findings which indicated those agencies had operated in a racially discriminatory manner, subjecting predominately Black communities to adverse health outcomes resulting from air pollution. This action is one in a long line of violations by the United States of its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) in Cancer Alley. In light of U.S. inaction in Cancer Alley, other parties to ICERD have the opportunity to and should challenge these violations under ICERD’s recently activated dispute settlement procedure. (Abstract from author.)