A UN report compiled in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death about racial justice has called on member states including the UK to end the “impunity” afforded to police officers who violate the human rights of black people.
The UN human rights office analysis of 190 deaths across the world concluded the report’s findings that police officers are rarely held accountable for killing black people.
This was partly due to inadequate investigation processes and a reluctance to recognise the effects of structural racism.
The 23-page global report, in addition to its accompanying 95-page conference room paper, features several examples of deaths involving police brutality, including the case of Kevin Clarke, who died after being restrained by officers in London in 2018.
An inquest into Clarke’s death revealed that he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2002 and the inappropriate use of restraints by the police was a contributing factor to his death.
The widely-covered cases of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were also covered in the report.
In June last year the UN human rights office was enlisted to produce a comprehensive report on systemic racism experienced by black people, which was led by Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights and a former president of Chile.
Based on online consultations with more than 340 individuals – mainly of African heritage – it carried out investigations around violations of international human rights law by law enforcement, government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, in addition to accountability and redress for victims.
Bachelet said: “Systemic racism needs a systemic response. There needs to be a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal approach to dismantling systems entrenched in centuries of discrimination and violence.
“I am calling on all states to stop denying, and start dismantling, racism; to end impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to confront past legacies and deliver redress.”
Through examining the deaths in police custody in different countries, the report unearthed “striking similarities” and patterns, including the challenges families endure seeking justice resulting in “a profound lack of trust.”
Deborah Coles, the director of the campaign group Inquest, said: “While the UK government is explicit in its denial of systemic racism, this UN report confronts them with the evidence. The disproportionate number of black men who die after the use of lethal force and neglect by the state is at the sharp end of a continuum of violence and racism. There is a pattern of systemic racism in our policing and criminal justice system.”
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