Geneva - The US government should publicly admit that
structural racism exists in the United States, the UN racism watchdog
demanded on Monday.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also
urged the US administration in a statement to "unequivocally and
unconditionally reject and condemn racially motivated killings of
African Americans and other minorities."
The committee that is composed of 18 independent experts from around
the world called on Washington to step up probes into alleged police
misconduct, including excessive force during the ongoing protests
against racially motivated police brutality.
The UN body reiterated that there should be systematic anti-racism
training for US officials at the federal, state and local levels.
The Human Rights Council, the top UN rights body, is set to discuss
entrenched racism in the US and across the world in a rare
extraordinary debate on Wednesday.
African countries had requested an urgent debate on racially inspired
human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and
violence against peaceful protest.
The death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis "sparked
protests all over the world against the injustice and brutality that
People of African Descent face daily in many parts of the world," the
African countries said in their proposal letter.
This will be only the fifth urgent debate that the Human Rights
Council has held since it was founded in 2006. The previous ones
dealt with blocked aid for Palestinians and with the situation in
Syria.
The United States gave up its membership in the top UN rights body in
2018. President Donald Trump's administration criticized the council
for including known rights violators among its member countries, and
for frequently singling out Israel's treatment of Palestinians.