NewsUN racial justice experts on Tuesday found broad impunity persists for officials who have used excessive force against Africans or people of African descent around the world, preventing victims from receiving justice or reparations and enabling the repetition of these behaviors.
The Human Rights Council-mandated panel of experts analyzed information compiled in the recent annual report, “Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers,” released by the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement (EMLER). The report displayed ongoing racial profiling, harassment, unjustified stop-and-searches, and disproportionate use of non-lethal weapons against Africans and people of African descent is widespread, enabling the panel to conclude that systemic racism in law enforcement persists across the globe. These discriminatory acts continue to contribute to the over-representation of Africans and people of African descent in detention and their poor treatment during both detainment and legal processes.
In the US, approximately 37% of incarcerated individuals are of African descent, despite this group making up only 13% of the total population. Policies granting police greater discretion, such as stop-and-frisk laws, are believed to contribute to the over-representation as research reveals that police disproportionately stop African American and Latino individuals under these laws despite white individuals having higher arrest and weapons-carrying rates.
To promote equitable treatment and end impunity, the mechanism recommended nations impose reforms in three areas:
- reporting, review, and investigation procedures
- independent civilian oversight bodies
- independent mechanisms to support victims and communities
In recent years, widespread activism has emerged against police brutality and the treatment of Africans and people of African descent, notably through the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained global support after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Many of these protests continue to face police suppression, including a rally in Paris last year protesting the fatal police shooting of an unarmed 17-year-old North African boy, where over 3,000 individuals were arrested before the protest was shut down.
The global discontent over the state of law enforcement systems and the racism within them led to the creation of EMLER in 2021, which is mandated to “further transformative change for racial justice and equality in the context of law enforcement globally, especially where relating to the legacies of colonialism and the Transatlantic slave trade in enslaved Africans, to investigate Governments’ responses to peaceful anti-racism protests and all violations of international human rights law and to contribute to accountability and redress for victims.” The mechanism regularly investigates and reports to the Human Rights Council on racial inequality in law enforcement systems worldwide, conducting country visits to hear testimonies from victims and officials and offering recommendations for improvement.
