Sunday, July 26, 2020

The UN comments on the Portland mess

From the Washington Post:

"Peaceful demonstrations that have been taking place in cities in the U.S. such as Portland really must be able to continue without those participating in them and also the people reporting on them, the journalists, risking arbitrary arrest or detention, being subject to unnecessary disproportionate or discriminatory use of force or suffering other violations of their rights,” Liz Throssell, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office, said at a news conference in Geneva, emphasizing that officers must be “properly and clearly identified.”

“There have been reports that peaceful protesters have been detained by unidentified police officers and that is a worry because it may place those detained outside the protection of the law and may give rise to arbitrary detention and other human rights violations,” Throssell said.

In June, the U.N. Human Rights Council decried violent police tactics and called for an inquiry into systemic racism in the United States. The resolution came after an unusual debate on “systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests” in the United States, requested by all 54 countries in Africa. It was adopted unanimously by the 47 countries that belong to the council. “It is important to show Africa … the Human Rights Council has heard the plight of African and people of African descent calling for equal treatment and application of equal rights for all,” Dieudonné W. Désiré Sougouri, Burkina Faso’s ambassador to the United Nations, said when presenting the resolution.

1 comment:

sdevito said...

Many of the protest have been peaceful.
Many have not been peaceful. Heavy vandalism, arson and assault on police have been commonplace.