US accuses UN of ‘hypocrisy’ after it condemns police brutality and urges report on ‘systemic racism’
- An initially strongly worded text proposed earlier this week had called for a high-level international investigation into police violence
- The United States said the vote amounted to hypocrisy, and the council should focus on ‘systemic racial disparities’ in countries like Cuba and China
The UN’s top human rights body on Friday condemned discriminatory police brutality and demanded a report on “systemic racism”, but rights groups accused Washington of wielding pressure to strip out any mention of the United States in the resolution.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday the vote condemning racism amounted to hypocrisy, and said the council should focus on what he called systemic racial disparities in member countries such as Cuba and China.
The UN Human Rights Council’s 47 members approved by consensus a revised resolution, which was presented by African countries for an urgent council debate, called following the death of George Floyd in US police custody.
Floyd’s killing on May 25, after a white Minneapolis police officer – since charged with murder – pressed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes, fuelled a national and global uproar over racism and police brutality.
An initially strongly worded text proposed earlier this week had called for a high-level international investigation into police violence against people of African descent in the United States.
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‘Anti-blackness is something deeply rooted in my community,’ says student Eileen Huang
But it was watered down in recent days, first to remove the call for an international inquiry, and finally to delete any mention of the United States.