Date : 2020.06.18

IMADR delivered the oral statement on “Racism in law enforcement and related human rights violations in the United States” at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or download here.  .

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Oral Statement: 43rd session of the Human Rights Council

Urgent Debate on the “current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protest”

18 June 2020

Madam President,

At the outset, we express our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

We welcome the Human Rights Council’s decision to hold this urgent debate which has been much needed since its establishment.

We reiterate our joint statement[1] with the US Human Rights Network delivered at the presentation of the report on the United States by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent in 2016. We deeply regret that today we are repeating the same calls for accountability, justice and end in racism and discrimination in the criminal justice system in the United States.

We would like to remind this Council that since its first review in 2001 the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has repeatedly recommended the United States to ensure accountability for the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials against people of African descent and other minorities, adequate reparation for victims, and the eradication of racial profiling.

It is evident from this record that the United States has systematically failed to comply with international human rights law, especially the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). In the absence of a genuine political will within the United States to combat institutional racism, the Human Rights Council must play a role in the protection of victims of racism. Against this backdrop, we express our support for independent international investigations into structural racism in law enforcement and related human rights violations in the United States.

Thank you Madam President.

[1] https://imadr.org/racialdiscrimination-africanamericans-hrc33-2016-joint-os/