A few days after the conviction in the United States of the policeman who killed George Floyd, Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Monday the States to take "immediate measures" against the "systemic racism" of which blacks are victims.

"Only approaches that tackle both endemic law enforcement shortcomings and systemic racism - and its origins - will do justice to the memory of George Floyd and so many others whose lives have been lost." or irreparably affected ”, declared Michelle Bachelet, during the publication of a report requested by the UN Human Rights Council, in reference to the African-American who has become the symbol of victims of police violence and racialism in the United States after his murder on May 25, 2020.

"Awareness long delayed"

“Today there is a crucial opportunity to mark a turning point for racial equality and justice,” notes this report, which examined more than 60 countries. On Friday, Derek Chauvin, the white policeman who crushed George Floyd's neck below his knee for long minutes, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison, a heavy and rare sentence in the United States that reflects the global impact drama. The murder of George Floyd and "the mass demonstrations" which followed it all over the world constitute a "decisive moment in the fight against racism" which must be seized, underlines the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights .

This mobilization allowed "a long delayed awareness of racism and placed at the center of the debates the systemic nature of racism", underlines Michelle Bachelet in a press release.

This systemic racism leads people of Africa or of African descent to find themselves economically and politically marginalized, do not have the same access as others to education or quality health care, or find themselves under-represented in the society.

In this regard, the report calls on states to “adopt measures mobilizing all public authorities” in plans with “sufficient resources”.

Ethnic statistics

It also calls for the establishment of ethnic statistics, and notes that racism conditions "the interactions of African people with representatives of the law and the criminal justice system". When they exist, the data in this regard are "worrying", estimates the High Commission, referring for example to the United Kingdom where over a year (from April 2019 to March 2020), there were 6 arrests with searches for 1,000 banches people against 54 for 1,000 black people. The High Commission also examined 190 cases of deaths of Africans or people of African descent in contact with the police.

"In many of the cases examined, (...) the victims did not represent an imminent threat of death or serious injury such that the level of force used was justified", notes the report which calls for "solid measures" to put an end to impunity.

It examined in detail seven “representative cases”, including that of Adama Traoré (France).

"With the exception of the case of George Floyd, no one was held responsible for these murders, and the families are still waiting for the truth and for justice," noted Mona Rishmawi, head of the Rule of Law Service, of equality and non-discrimination at the High Commission, which deplored the slowness of justice in the case of Adama Traoré.

Look the past in the face

"We have found that there is not a single example where the issue of individual and collective reparations has been addressed," said Mona Rishmawi.

The fight against racism requires a real work of memory, finally underlines the report, for which it is “high time to face the consequences of slavery, of the transatlantic slave trade of Africans and colonialism, and to aim at restorative justice ”.

“I call on all states to stop denying racism and start dismantling it, end impunity and build trust, listen to the voices of people of African descent, face the consequences of the past and offer reparations, ”concludes Michelle Bachelet, for whom“ the status quo is unacceptable ”.

High-Tech

What is mechanical racism?

Culture

United States commemorates end of slavery with national holiday, "Juneteenth"

  • George floyd

  • Video

  • Michelle bachelet

  • Racism

  • UN

  • World