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OHCHR / POLICE VIOLENCE SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION
STORY: OHCHR / POLICE VIOLENCE SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION
TRT: 03:51
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 19 MARCH 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Various shots, exterior Palais des Nations
19 MARCH 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, Human Rights Council meeting room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Last week, I met personally with a number of family members of women, men and children of African descent killed by law enforcement officials.”
4. Med shot, cameraman
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I was deeply moved by their courage and their descriptions of the impact and ongoing trauma of losing their child or sibling so suddenly and violently. And I was struck by the similar difficulties reported in their interactions with police and judicial authorities in their struggles to achieve justice.”
6. Med shot, reporters
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Ten months after the killing of George Floyd set off new waves of outrage and demands for change across the world, a key trial related to his killing is now beginning. But this crucial, defining opportunity for justice is denied to countless other families. So many cases involving deaths of people of African descent never make it to court, and the pain of so many families goes unacknowledged or even denied.”
8. Med shot, delegate
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Many of the families we consulted clearly felt their governments are not doing enough to acknowledge or counter systemic racism in law enforcement and justice – and their officials responsible for human rights violations are not being held to account.”
10. Wide shot, dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“I want to be very clear: impunity for crimes that may have been committed by agents of the State is profoundly damaging to the core values and social cohesion of every nation. No police officer or any other agent of any State should ever be above the law. This is, after all, the basic premise of the rule of law.”
12. Wide shot, audience
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Many have told us of being refused access to evidence, denied timely and regular information, and even permission to recover the bodies of their relatives. They describe being ignored and treated with contempt, their concerns dismissed, leaving them feeling unheard, unvalued, and dehumanized.”
14. Wide shot, dais
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“To end racial injustice in law enforcement, we cannot simply see tip of the iceberg, we must face the mass below the surface. We must understand the roots of today’s inequalities and the unacknowledged and unredressed racism upon which they have grown.”
16. Wide shot, dais
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We must address the legacies of enslavement, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, and its context of colonialism.”
18. Wide shot, empty seats
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“In adopting resolution 43/1, the Council took an important first step in responding to these long-standing issues.”
20. Wide shot, empty seats
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“My report to the Council in June will recommend an agenda for transformative change to dismantle systemic racism and police brutality against Africans and people of African descent, and to advance accountability and redress for victims.”
22. Med shot, journalists
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“It will also analyse Government responses to recent, overwhelmingly peaceful, demonstrations for racial justice – including credible reports of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officers against protesters, bystanders and journalists, and broader threats to people of African descent and others who stand up against racism.”
24. Med shot, cameraman
The Human Rights Council on Friday (19 Mar) embarked on a discussion over police violence against people of African descent, with a warning from UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet that “brutality and discrimination against people of African descent continue to occur.”
In an appeal for States to take action, the High Commissioner for Human Rights insisted that “no police officer or any other agent of any State should ever be above the law.”
She said wider prejudice in society and its institutions can only be addressed by digging deeper, and facing “the mass below the surface,” to understand “the roots of today’s inequalities and the unacknowledged and unredressed racism upon which they have grown.”
Her comments coincide with the US trial of a former police officer accused of killing black American George Floyd in May 2020.
Floyd, who was 46, died after an officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes in Minneapolis, sparking worldwide protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.
His killing also prompted widespread calls for a discussion of the issue at the Human Rights Council in Geneva barely a month later.
It resulted in Resolution 43/1, mandating Member States to look at systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement agencies against Africans and people of African descent – and to contribute to accountability and redress for victims.
This “opportunity for justice is denied to countless other families” of other black victims of police violence, Bachelet continued, adding that “so many cases involving deaths of people of African descent never make it to court” and “officials responsible for human rights violations are not being held to account.”
To help end racial injustice in law enforcement, the High Commissioner noted that her Office would present a report to the Geneva-based body in June.
It will outline “an agenda for transformative change,” with proposals to “dismantle” systemic racism and police brutality against Africans and people of African descent, and to tackle impunity.
The upcoming report will also offer an analysis of Governments and the disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officers to “recent, overwhelmingly peaceful, demonstrations for racial justice.”
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