GENEVA / US GUN CONTROL

The UN human rights office urged the leadership in the United States to live up to its obligations to protect its citizens from the “horrifyingly commonplace but preventable violent attacks that are the direct result of insufficient gun control.” UNTV CH

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:42
• Production Date: 14 June 2016
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - OHCHR
• Subject Topical: DISARMAMENT
• Geographic Subject: UNITED STATES
• MAMS Id: 1643896
• Parent Id: 1643896
• Alternate Title: unifeed160614b

Description

STORY: GENEVA / US GUN CONTROL
TRT: 01:42
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 14 JUNE 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations

14 JUNE 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “It is hard to find a rational justification that explains the ease with which people can buy firearms, including assault rifles, in spite of prior criminal backgrounds, drug use, histories of domestic violence and mental illness, or direct contact with extremists – both domestic and foreign”.
4. Med shot, Spokesperson
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The High Commissioner asks the following questions: ‘How many more mass killings of school-children, of co-workers, of African-American churchgoers - how many more individual shootings of talented musicians like Christina Grimmie, who was shot last weekend, or politicians like Gabrielle Giffords, will it take before the United States adopts robust gun regulation? Why should any civilian anywhere be able to acquire an assault rifle or other high-powered weapons designed to kill lots of people?”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The protection of human rights must be central to the development of laws and regulations regarding the availability, transfer and use of firearms. UN and regional human rights experts have long recommended that firearm control measures must include adequate background check systems, the periodic review of licenses, clear gun removal policies when intervening in domestic violence, mandatory training, and the criminalization of illegal sale of firearms, among other measures.”
8. Various shots, journalists

Storyline

In the aftermath of the mass killing of 49 people by a gunman in a gay nightclub in Florida, the UN human rights office today (14 June) urged the leadership in the United States of America to live up to its obligations to protect its citizens from the “horrifyingly commonplace but preventable violent attacks that are the direct result of insufficient gun control.”

Quoting the High Commissioner (HC), Colville said in a press conference today that “it is hard to find a rational justification that explains the ease with which people can buy firearms, including assault rifles, in spite of prior criminal backgrounds, drug use, histories of domestic violence and mental illness, or direct contact with extremists – both domestic and foreign.”

He said “how many more mass killings of school-children, of co-workers, of African-American churchgoers -- how many more individual shootings of talented musicians like Christina Grimmie, or politicians like Gabrielle Giffords, will it take before the United States adopts robust gun regulation? Why should any civilian anywhere be able to acquire an assault rifle or other high-powered weapons designed to kill lots of people?”

A new UN human rights report on the civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms highlights the “devastating impact” of gun violence on a host of human rights, including the rights to life, security, education, health, an adequate standard of living and participation in cultural life.

Colville said that “the protection of human rights must be central to the development of laws and regulations regarding the availability, transfer and use of firearms. UN and regional human rights experts have long recommended that firearm control measures must include adequate background check systems, the periodic review of licenses, clear gun removal policies when intervening in domestic violence cases, mandatory training, and the criminalization of illegal sale of firearms, among other measures.”

According to the High Commissioner, “examples from many countries clearly show that a legal framework to control the acquisition and use of firearms has led to a dramatic reduction in violent crime”. “In the United States, however, there are hundreds of millions of guns in circulation, and every year thousands of people are killed or injured by them.”

He added that it was “particularly reprehensible – indeed dangerous – that this terrible event is already being utilized to promote homophobic and Islamophobic sentiments. He urges everyone in the United States "to ensure that the human rights, and consequently the security, of all are strengthened in the aftermath of this horrendous incident."