UN discusses resolution concerning racial violence US for first time ever

For the first time ever, The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is discussing a resolution concerning human rights violations, specifically racial violence, in a country in the Global North. The police and state violence in the United States during Black Lives Matter protests have sparked concern within the UN and amongst activist groups. Over six hundred organisations, including family members of victims of police brutality, are demanding there be an independent investigation into US police violence and systemic racism. This led to the Africa Group calling for an urgent debate in the UNHRC on the matter, the outcome of which will likely be decided upon tomorrow. But human rights organisations are fearful member states won’t follow through out of fear of retaliation.

The past few weeks have been marked by Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the killing of George Floyd, who died at the hands (and knee) of police officer Derek Chauvin. The protests were met with more police and state violence and even led to some deaths. In a letter to the UNHRC, a coalition of more than six hundred activist groups and family members of victims of police brutality from sixty different countries have urged member states to take action with regards to the escalating situation in the United States. The coalition expresses its deep concern regarding the violent way peaceful protests are being shut down. “The right to peaceful assembly and demonstration must be protected. This mandate is even more compelling with regard to the rights of minority communities, especially people of African descent, to speak out against racist practices they have endured for centuries.” In their letter, the undersigned request  an “independent inquiry into escalating situation of police violence and repression of protests in the United States”. 

Today the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) - which the US has redrawn from - held an urgent debate on “current racially inspired human rights violations, systematic racism, police brutality against people of African descent and violence against peaceful protests” in the United States. The session was requested by Burkina Faso on behalf of the Africa Group, a UN regional group representing 54 Member States from the African continent. Following today’s debate, the council will likely vote on the resolution tomorrow. 

Lilith spoke with Sarah Brooks from the Geneva based International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) about what this debate means and what outcomes might be expected. “We would expect that a mechanism would be set into place that would ensure investigation, documentation, and reporting on the situation of systemic racism and police violence.” 

Could you start by shortly explaining the situation to me? 

“In short, the killing of George Floyd in the United States sparked protests not only in the US, but a real global movement against systemic racism and police violence.  There was quickly an understanding within the US human rights movement that the tools available to them were part of a legal system that has at its heart a significant bias against black, brown, and indigenous people. They needed a tool that could actually respond to the gravity of the situation, so they decided to come to the UNHRC and call for the international community to mandate an investigation into not only the killings, but the systemic and root causes of racism and discrimination in the US, as well as the responses to peaceful protesters standing up for the rights of Africans and other Americans of color.” 

So the US has really been put on the spot here. Is this a unique situation? Have there been similar situations in which countries have been called out like that? 

“The Human Rights Council has a mandate to work on thematic and country specific issues. This model that requests for a commission of inquiry or an independent investigative mechanism has been used with regularity in the past with regards to Syria, Myanmar, Venezuela, etc. So there’s a longstanding tradition of these types of investigation being called for, and established and resourced through the HRC taking action. It is the first time that it has happened and it has been targeted at a global North country.”  

Was does this mean? What are the implications of targeting the US?

“I think it is a very important signal. It show that the severity of racial discrimination in the US is so much that many governments are willing to go out on a limb and willing to speak up and to press for some change. I think it also shows that the council has the potential to really carry out its mandate of monitoring human rights around the world and to ensure that no country is above international human rights law. That no country, no matter how powerful, is immune to criticism based on its human rights violations. Sending that message today to the US should make clear that the council can no longer avoid or make excuses not to do so when it comes to other countries that are problematic.” 

What will happen if the resolution gets passed? What are the consequences? 

“So if the resolution gets passed, depending on how the texts have been negotiated, a number of things might happen. We would expect that a mechanism would be set into place that would ensure investigation, documentation, and reporting on the situation of systemic racism and police violence. Depending on how the negotiations go this might be specific to the US or it might include a broaders range of countries. They might go as far as to say ‘Let’s do it all over the world! It’s a global problem!’. This is true, but this would fail to recognize the urgency and it would overwhelm the system. There would be no way they could address this everywhere. So that is what might happen. The problem is that this is not just one of the Global North countries but the Global North country, so there has been a lot of push-back. There is a lack of courage of European governments and other Western governments, and even many in the Global  South who have particularly close ties to the US. They are really nervous, because if they are targeting the US and the US might retaliate. They are nervous, because they might get caught in the clutter as well. If you look at the UK or France or Belgium or The Netherlands. These are not issues that are happening outside their borders. So whilst it is important to know what the resolution should do in an ideal world, in reality, what we are seeing is a really disappointing, cowardice, and willful watering down of what they might investigate.” 

How does that happen?

“They will give many reasons. Some of those statements will be made in the debates, some of those statements will be made in the negotiations. Regardless of their justification, the line of what they will say is ‘Yes this is happening in the US right now and it’s terrible, but we have confidence in the US. And we believe that it is important to recognize that this is a global problem and not single out the United States’. 

So they want to try to draw the attention away from the US and focus on it being a global problem?

“Yes. They will talk about the problem of racism without realising that it happens in real countries affecting real people. That is basically what they will do.” 

Could this also happen to The Netherlands? Could they also be called out like that? 

“In theory yes. It largely depends on how strategically astute the anti-racist groups in The Netherlands are. What is also important to note is that there were no other domestic tools available in the US or there was not a lot of confidence in these domestic tools. There was also not a lot of cooperation with the international tool. The Trump administration has come in and there has been this one visit by UN experts and that one was negotiated well before Trump was elected. I believe the Working Group on People of African Descent visited last year, Extreme Poverty visited last year… So the Dutch government has a different approach to engaging with these organisations. I do think it is really important for the anti-racist groups in The Netherlands to think about how to mobilize and use these international tools that are available.” 

Update June 18th 12:30pm:

“I would highlight the UPR as well, as a key tool that exists for raising concerns about the human rights record on all issues in all countries. Including the Netherlands. NB: The Netherlands was last reviewed in May 2017, and should (in principle) next be reviewed in November 2022.”

Update June 22nd 10:00am:

On friday June 19th, the UNHRC has adopted the resolution. They have instructed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other independent experts o investigate and report on systemic racism and police violence globally and also with a specific attention on the U.S. context. The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) stated that, although adopting this resolution is an important step, delegates from Europe and Latin America managed to make the resolution more generic rather than U.S. specific by emphasizing how racism is a global problem affecting many different groups besides people from African descent.

The resolution will be decided on early Thursday morning on June 18th. Although the decision will be made by UNHRC, the public still has a voice, as the United Nations resolutions affect us all. Human rights organisations have called for action by asking to let your foreign ministeries, ambassadors and representatives within the UN know that you oppose racial violence in the US (and everywhere else) and wish the resolution for investigation to be passed.
Copy past the link below to watch the live stream:
http://webtv.un.org/live-now/watch/43rd-regular-session-human-rights-council/5708665739001