28/6/2021 UN calls for end of ‘impunity’ for police violence against black people | Human rights | The Guardian

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Human rights
UN calls for end of ‘impunity’ for police violence
against black people

Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent

@aamnamohdin
Mon 28 Jun 2021 11.02 BST

A UN report that analysed racial justice in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd
has called on member states including the UK to end the “impunity” enjoyed by police
officers who violate the human rights of black people.

The UN human rights office analysis of 190 deaths across the world led to the report’s
damning conclusion that law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for
killing black people due in part to deficient investigations and an unwillingness to
acknowledge the impact of structural racism.

The 23-page global report, and its accompanying 95-page conference room paper,
features seven examples of deaths involving police, including the case of Kevin Clarke,
who died after being restrained by officers in London in 2018.
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A jury at Clarke’s inquest, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in
2002, found the police’s inappropriate use of restraints contributed to his death.

Other case studies include Luana Barbosa dos Reis Santos and João Pedro Matos Pinto
in Brazil; George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in the US; Janner García Palomino in
Colombia; and Adama Traoré in France.

The UN human rights 0ffice was tasked in June 2020 to produce a comprehensive
report on systemic racism against black people. The report investigated violations of
international human rights law by law enforcement, government responses to anti-
racism peaceful protests, as well as accountability and redress for victims. The report
was led by Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights and a former
president of Chile.

Bachelet described the status quo as “untenable”. She said: “Systemic racism needs a
systemic response. There needs to be a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal
approach to dismantling systems entrenched in centuries of discrimination and
violence.

“I am calling on all states to stop denying, and start dismantling, racism; to end
impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to
confront past legacies and deliver redress.”

The analysis was based on online consultations with more than 340 individuals,
mostly of African descent; more than 110 written contributions; a review of publicly
available material; and additional consultations with relevant experts.

In examining deaths in police custody in different countries, the report finds “striking
similarities” and patterns – including in the hurdles families face in accessing justice.
The report notes the patchwork of available data paints “an alarming picture of
system-wide, disproportionate and discriminatory impacts on people of African
descent in their encounters with law enforcement and the criminal justice system in
some states”.

Many of the families “felt continuously betrayed by the system” and spoke of “a
profound lack of trust”, the report says, adding that “it often falls on victims and
families to fight for accountability without adequate support”.

“Several families described to me the agony they faced in pursuing truth, justice and
redress – and the distressing presumption that their loved ones somehow ‘deserved
it’,” Bachelet said. “It is disheartening that the system is not stepping up to support
them. This must change.”
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Wendy Clarke, Kevin Clarke’s mother, told the UN commission: “We want to see
accountability, and real change, not just in training, but the perception and response
to black people by the police and other services. We want mental health services better
funded so the first point of response is not just reliant on the police.”

Investigations, prosecutions, trials and judicial decisions often fail to consider the role
that racial discrimination, stereotypes and institutional bias may have played in
deaths in custody, the report adds.

Deborah Coles, the director of the campaign group Inquest, said: “While the UK
government is explicit in its denial of systemic racism, this UN report confronts them
with the evidence. The disproportionate number of black men who die after the use of
lethal force and neglect by the state is at the sharp end of a continuum of violence and
racism. There is a pattern of systemic racism in our policing and criminal justice
system.”

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