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OHCHR / BACHELET GEORGE FLOYD
STORY: OHCHR / BACHELET GEORGE FLOYD
TRT: 1:30
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 APRIL 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Aerial shot, Palais Wilson exterior
11 MARCH 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“This is a momentous verdict. It is also a testament to the courage and perseverance of George Floyd’s family and many others in calling for justice. As the jury recognised, the evidence in this case was crystal clear. Any other result would have been a travesty of justice. But for countless other victims of African descent and their families, in the United States and throughout the world, the fight for justice goes on. The battle to get cases of excessive force or killings by police before the courts -- let alone win them -- is far from over. This case has also helped reveal, perhaps more clearly than ever before, how much remains to be done to reverse the tide of systemic racism that permeates the lives of people of African descent. Now is the time to critically examine the context in which George Floyd’s killing took place by revisiting the past and examining its toxic traces in today’s society. The entrenched legacy of discriminatory policies and systems, including the legacies of enslavement and transatlantic trade and the impact of colonialism, must be decisively uprooted in order to achieve racial justice and equality. If they are not, the verdict in this case will just be a passing moment when the stars aligned for justice, rather than a true turning point.”
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
3. Aerial shot, Palais Wilson exterior
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet described the guilty verdict issued yesterday in the murder of George Floyd as “momentous” adding that it was also a testament to the “courage and perseverance” of Floyd’s family and many others in calling for justice.
In a video message released today (21 Apr), Bachelet said, as the jury recognised, the evidence in this case was “crystal clear” and any other result would have been a “travesty of justice.”
The High Commissioner reminded however that for countless other victims of African descent and their families, in the United States and throughout the world, “the fight for justice goes on.” She added, “The battle to get cases of excessive force or killings by police before the courts -- let alone win them -- is far from over.”
Bachelet said this case has also helped reveal, “perhaps more clearly than ever before, how much remains to be done to reverse the tide of systemic racism that permeates the lives of people of African descent.” She added that now was the time to critically examine the context in which George Floyd’s killing took place by “revisiting the past and examining its toxic traces in today’s society.”
The High Commissioner stressed that the “entrenched legacy of discriminatory policies and systems, including the legacies of enslavement and transatlantic trade and the impact of colonialism, must be decisively uprooted in order to achieve racial justice and equality.” She said, “If they are not, the verdict in this case will just be a passing moment when the stars aligned for justice, rather than a true turning point.”
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