Last Updated on June 20, 2020, 8:26 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The UN Human Rights Council on Friday condemned the discriminatory and violent policing after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis previous month and has also ordered a report on “systemic racism” against the people of African descent.
The 47-member-state forum adopted a resolution brought by African countries unanimously.
The mandate also asked Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to examine the Government responses to peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force, and report back with the findings within a year.
Philonise Floyd, the brother of the deceased, whose death under the knee of a white officer has ignited worldwide protests against the racial injustice, urged the forum to investigate the United States police brutality as well as the racial discrimination.
Dieudonné W. Désiré Sougouri, Burkina Faso’s Ambassador, presented the African resolution on Friday, requesting that it should be adopted by consensus.
He said that it is important to show Africa that the Human Rights Council has heard the plight of the African people and that of the people of an African descent calling for the application of equal rights for all and equal treatment.
He added that the Africa group had made several “concessions” in the negotiations with other countries.
Senegal’s envoy Coly Seck, who is a former council president, has welcomed the consensus, and told the talks, “Black Lives Matter”.
The text was watered down during the closed-door negotiations from an initial draft which was explicitly called for a United Nations commission of inquiry on racism in the United States and other parts of the world.
American Civil Liberties Union’s Jamil Dakwar said that it was absurd that the final resolution which was passed by the United Nations strips the mention of the United States, where the police kill people, particularly Black people, at alarmingly higher rates in comparison to other developed countries.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
