African countries are pushing for the UN's top rights body to launch a high-level investigation into "systemic racism" and police violence in the United States and beyond, according to a draft resolution seen on Tuesday by AFP.
In the draft resolution, the African group strongly condemns "continuing racial discriminatory and violent practices perpetrated by law enforcement agencies against Africans and people of African descent and structural racism endemic to the criminal justice system, in the United States of America and other parts of the world recently affected."
The commission, the text said, should "establish facts and circumstances related to the systemic racism, alleged violations of international human rights law and abuses against Africans and of people of African descent in the United States" and elsewhere by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the deaths.
The text also calls on UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet to include updates on police brutality against people of African descent in the United States and elsewhere at each future council session.
"Many other cases of persons of African descent (have) faced the same fate because of their origin and police violence," Burkina Faso Ambassador Dieudonne Desire Sougouri told the council on Monday.
