UN Human Rights Council to Examine U.S. Police Brutality

(Bloomberg) -- The United Nations’ top human rights authority will hold a debate about racism and police brutality after the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody sparked protests across the U.S. and in other countries.

At the request of Burkina Faso, the Human Rights Council decided on an “urgent debate on the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protests,” according to a statement from the Geneva-based body on Monday.

The events contributing to Floyd’s death “did not amount to an isolated incident,” it said. The discussion is due to be held on June 17.

A spokesman for the U.S. Mission in Geneva did not immediately comment. The U.S. withdrew from the 47-member Human Rights Council in 2018.

Separately, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on the U.S. to abide by its treaty obligations.

The committee urged the U.S. to fully implement the convention by “monitoring compliance of domestic laws and policies with the convention, and systematically carrying out anti-discrimination training of government officials at the federal, state and local levels,” according to a press release.

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