An Angolan delegate from the UN Human Rights Council during the vote on systemic racism. - AFP

Condemn without targeting. This is the balancing act to which the UN Human Rights Council complied by adopting this Friday a resolution condemning systemic racism and police violence while removing a mention specifically targeting the United States. United.

The Human Rights Council, a Geneva-based UN body from which Washington withdrew in 2018, adopted by consensus this resolution presented by African countries in the framework of an emergency meeting convened after the death of George Floyd and the massive protests against racism around the world.

A watered-down text

George Floyd, an African American man in his forties, was suffocated by a white police officer during his arrest on May 25 in Minneapolis. In its initial version, the resolution called for the establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry to shed light on "systemic racism" in the United States. This type of commission is a high-level structure generally reserved for major crises such as the Syrian conflict.

But the text has been gradually watered down and no longer specifically targets the United States, triggering the ire of NGOs. He simply asked the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet "to prepare a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law and ill-treatment against Africans and the people of African origin by the police ”.

The report, he said, should in particular examine "the events that led to the deaths of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent, with the aim of helping to establish responsibility and bring justice to the victims" .

American pressures

Human rights NGOs have accused the United States of pressing for emptying the text of much of its substance. "By harassing other countries to water down what would have been a historic resolution, and thus exempt itself from any international investigation, the United States once again turns its back on the victims of police violence and on black people", lamented the powerful American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Without mentioning the United States, Michelle Bachelet had denounced Wednesday before the Council "systemic racism" and called to "make amends" for centuries of oppression of black populations, with "official apologies" and "reparations". After a minute of silence observed for all victims of racism, the UN Under-Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, noted in a video message that it was the "responsibility" of the United Nations to respond to the victims of racism.

A disappointing result

Before the meeting opened on Wednesday, some 20 senior UN officials of African descent or descent, including WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, signed a personal statement saying " mere condemnation of expressions and acts of racism is not enough ”.

The group of African countries within the HRC has made "many concessions" to "guarantee consensus" around the text, recognized the representative of Burkina Faso on behalf of these states before its adoption.

For reform, Floyd's brother addressed the UN on Wednesday in a vibrant video message. "You have the power to help us get justice," said Philonise Floyd. An "independent commission of inquiry into black people killed by the police in the United States and the violence against peaceful protesters must be established," he said.

After a timid decree from President Donald Trump, Republican senators on Wednesday introduced a bill that attacks "bottlenecks" and the training of police officers, without however attacking the broad immunity they have enjoyed for years.

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