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African countries call for racism debate at UN rights council
GENEVA, June 13, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – African countries called Friday on the UN
Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police brutality amid the
unrest in the US and beyond over George Floyd’s death.
In a letter written on behalf of 54 African countries, Burkina Faso’s
ambassador to the UN in Geneva asked the UN’s top rights body for an “urgent
debate” on “racially inspired human rights violations, police brutality
against people of African descent and the violence against the peaceful
protests that call for these injustices to stop.”
The letter, addressed to rights council president Elisabeth Tichy-
Fisslberger of Austria, requested that this debate be held next week, when the
council’s 43rd session resumes, after it was interrupted in March due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The call came after Floyd’s family, along with the families of other
victims of police violence and over 600 NGOs this week called on the council
to urgently address systemic racism and police impunity in the US.
For the council to consider such a request, it needs to have the backing of
at least one country.
With the request now coming from a large group of states, “that increases
the chances” it will take place, a council spokesman told AFP.
Friday’s letter pointed to the case of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black
man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 after a white officer,
who has since been charged with murder, pressed his knee on his neck for
nearly nine minutes.
– ‘Unchecked police brutality’ –
His death, which was caught on video and has sparked massive protests
across the United States and around the world, “is unfortunately not an
isolated incident, with many previous cases of unarmed persons of African
descent suffering the same fate due to unchecked police brutality,” it said.
“Sadly, the fates of many other victims attracted no attention, as they
were not captured on social media for all to see,” Ambassador Dieudonne Desire
Sougouri wrote on behalf of the African Group at the council.
While the letter called for a debate on racism around the globe, it in
particular highlighted the situation in the United States.
“The protests the world is witnessing are a rejection of the fundamental
racial inequality and discrimination that characterise life in the United
States for black people, and other people of colour,” it said.
Council President Tichy-Fisslberger will now announce Monday a proposed day
for the urgent debate, and unless there are any objections, which is unlikely,
it will go ahead.
A number of countries are expected to address Floyd’s killing and concerns
about police violence and racism in the United States during the resumed 43rd
council session even without a special debate.
But since the deadline for tabling fresh resolutions during this session
expired back in March, they will only be able to call for concrete actions
within the confines of this extraordinary debate.
John Fisher, head of the Human Rights Watch’s Geneva office, voiced hope
earlier Friday, before the African Group letter went out, that the council
would order some form of scrutiny of the US situation.
“There are underlying issues of systemic racism that need to be addressed
and addressed meaningfully,” he told journalists.
BSS/AFP/MMA/0950HRS