A group of 66 independent UN rights experts called on the US government to take decisive action to address systemic racism and racial bias in the country’s criminal justice system. They called for independent investigations that ensure accountability in all cases of excessive use of force by police.
The experts also issued a statement on the nationwide protests against racial injustice, following the death of George Floyd who was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis last week.
The latest videos to surface on social media showed white man chase, corner, and execute young man shocked the conscience and evoke the very terror that the lynching regime in the US was intended to inspire, read the report.
“Given the track record of impunity for racial violence of this nature in the United States, Black people have good reason to fear for their lives.”
The experts recommended that the government revisit and cease policies facilitating qualified immunity and called for independent review of all extrajudicial police killings would enhance both transparency and accountability.
Demonstrators around the world took to the streets despite warnings about the coronavirus, in a wave of anger over the death of Floyd and racism against minorities in various countries.
Thousands gathered in Australia on Saturday in solidarity with protesters in the United States.
New South Wales (NSW) appeals court authorized a rally in Sydney, where thousands marched chanting “black lives matter.” Many protesters carried the indigenous flag, as others covered their faces with masks reading "I can't breathe", George Floyd’s last words.
In Melbourne, more than 5,000 people gathered and the organizers read out a long list of indigenous people who had died in police custody in Australia.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined thousands of demonstrators in Ottawa on Friday, where he kneeled for eight minutes and 46 seconds in Floyd’s memory, which is the amount of time the police officer, Derek Chauvin, held his knee on Floyd’s neck as he shouted that he couldn’t breathe until he died.
The Prime Minister was wearing a black mask and joined the crowds in front of parliament, accompanied by the Minister Ahmed Hussein.
Also in Toronto and other Canadian cities, thousands protested racism and police brutality. Toronto'r first black Police Chief Mark Saunders and several uniformed officers met protestors marching through downtown, and also took a knee.
"We see you and we are listening," he tweeted. "We have to all stay in this together to make change."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford praised Saunders’ actions describing it as “true leadership” and called images of the city's police chief joining protestors "impactful."
In Germany, Federal Anti-discrimination Agency stated that insults and discrimination against individuals because of the color of their skin had become widespread in Germany as well.
Head of the Agency Bernhard Franke warned that discrimination has become a daily phenomenon.
He indicated that primarily, people are discriminated according to their race or ethnicity, then their gender, followed by discrimination against people with disabilities.
Franke explained that people who face discrimination, regardless of its nature, can claim compensation from the perpetrators.
Germany’s new Equality Act is controversial, as critics warn it will lead to a wave of lawsuits and could create an atmosphere of general suspicion against administrative officials, especially the police.
