The United Nations Human Rights Council this week will review reports of racism, police brutality and violence against protesters in the U.S. in an urgent meeting after weeks of anti-racism protests that have swept the country.
The request to hold an “urgent debate” among the 47-member group, of which the U.S. is not a member, was initially requested by Burkina Faso on behalf of 54 African countries after the family of George Floyd urged the group to review systemic racism and police brutality in the U.S.
Mr. Floyd died on May 25 after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis.
“The death of George Floyd is unfortunately not an isolated incident,” the countries said in a letter to the council. “The numbers of previous cases of unarmed people of African descent who met the same fate because of uncontrolled police violence are legion.”
The meeting, expected to be held on Wednesday, will focus on “racially inspired human rights violations, police brutality against people of African descent and the violence against the peaceful protests that call for these injustices to stop.”
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