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Report

Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers

Issued by

OHCHR

Published

01 June 2021

presented to

The Human Rights Council at its forty-seventh session (21 June-9 July 2021)

Report

Issued by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Subjects

Law enforcement, Racism

Symbol Number

A/HRC/47/53

Background

Operative paragraph 3 of Human Rights Council resolution 43/1 requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the assistance of relevant special procedure mandate holders, "to prepare a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and redress for victims." Operative paragraph 4 of the resolution requests the High Commissioner "to examine government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists". Operative paragraph 6 requests the High Commissioner "to present a comprehensive report to the Council at its forty-seventh session, followed by an interactive dialogue". The forty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council is scheduled to take place in June 2021.

In order to inform the preparation of this report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) would welcome information from all States, including independent governmental entities, as well as United Nations entities, inter-governmental and regional organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations and all other relevant stakeholders, concerning:

  • Measures taken to identify, address, reform and remedy systems, institutions, structures, mechanisms, legislation, policies and/or practices that give rise to, perpetuate, entrench and/or reinforce systemic racism, racial discrimination and associated human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent, including those resulting from historical legacies, as relevant.
  • The impact of such measures on the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including, but not limited to, measures, mechanisms and procedures taken to identify, address and provide effective remedy and redress for systemic racism and racial discrimination experienced by Africans and people of African descent within law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Please also identify or include related public reports in this regard.
  • Information regarding specific incidents of alleged violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent.
  • Measures taken to ensure accountability, remedy and redress and address any impunity for human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent, particularly by law enforcement agencies; and the outcomes and effectiveness of such measures. Please also share information about the PAGE 2 functioning of accountability mechanisms and associated decision-making processes addressing human rights violations, and identify any patterns or trends in the outcomes of these mechanisms and processes that show or suggest differential experience of Africans and people of African descent with respect to accountability for violations suffered by them. Please also identify or include related public reports in this regard.
  • Information concerning laws, regulations, policies and other measures taken to prevent and address alleged human rights violations by law enforcement officials against Africans and people of African descent, as well as contribute to accountability, remedy and redress, and the outcomes and effectiveness of such measures.
  • Information concerning Government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, within the meaning of resolution 43/1, including the alleged use of excessive force against protesters, bystanders and journalists, as well as applicable laws, regulations, policies, practices and other measures, and their impact and effectiveness.
  • Information regarding systems of collection by State authorities of disaggregated data based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin, and processes for the analysis of such data. In relation to the above-mentioned areas, please provide data disaggregated by race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin; as well as additionally by sex, age, economic and social situation, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, incarceration and other status, where available. Where such information is not available, please indicate reasons why.
  • Mechanisms in place to ensure that Africans and people of African descent and their representatives are appropriately, adequately and sufficiently represented in processes to identify, remove and reform any structures, policies and practices of racial discrimination in institutions of law enforcement and the related administration of criminal justice.
  • Good practices, challenges and lessons learned regarding measures taken to: (i) combat systemic racism at the national, state/regional and local levels, including as informed by structural and institutional factors; (ii) prevent and address alleged human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement officials; (iii) ensure accountability for human rights violations against Africans and people of African descent and access to effective remedies and redress for such victims of contemporary and associated historical human rights violations; and (iv) ensure appropriate Government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests. Please also identify or include related public reports in this regard.
  • Specific information pertaining to all other aspects of the mandate set out in resolution 43/1, including regarding the situation and perspectives of African women and children and of women and children of African descent, as well as other relevant gender and intersectional dimensions, including discrimination based on colour, sex/gender, economic and social status, disability, or other status.

View PDF version of the call for input

Inputs Received
Inputs Received
Member States
  1. Algeria
  2. Andorra
  3. Argentina
    1-2-3
  4. Bolivia
  5. Costa Rica
    1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13
  6. Cyprus
    1-2-3
  7. Finland
  8. Guatemala
    1-2-3-4-4_1-4_2-4_3-4_4-4_5-4_6-4_7
  9. Mexico
  10. Sweden
  11. Ukraine
  12. United States
Additional Responses by Member States
  1. Brazil
    1-2-3-4-5
  2. France
  3. United Kingdom
  4. United States
Intergovernmental Organisations
  1. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
  2. ECRI (European Commission against Racism and Intolerance of the Council of Europe)
  3. European Union
  4. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs)
  1. Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos México (CNDH México)
    1-2
  2. Defensoría del Pueblo Bolivia
    1-2
  3. Defensoría de los Habitantes Costa Rica
    1-2-3
  4. Defensoría del Pueblo Ecuador
  5. Defensoría del Pueblo Panamá
  6. Institución Nacional de Derechos Humanos y Defensoría del Pueblo de Uruguay
  7. Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de El Salvador
  8. Procurador de los Derechos Humanos Guatemala
United Nations bodies and specialized agencies
  1. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
  2. Working Group on discrimination against women and girls (WGDAW)
  3. UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK)
Non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders
  1. Access to Justice Knowledge Hub for Fair Participation
  2. Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
  3. Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture (ACAT)
  4. Advocates for Human Rights
  5. Africans in America for Restitution and Repatriation/Kha-Nu National Community
  6. African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (ANSPAD)
    1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16
  7. Amelia Carter
  8. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  9. American Civil Liberties Union New York
  10. American Civil Liberties Union Oregon
  11. American Muslim Bar Association
  12. Amit Anand and Preethi Lolaksha Nagaveni
  13. Andy and Gwen Stern Community Lawyering Clinic and American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and additional document
  14. Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and annex
  15. Athletes United for Peace
  16. Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities
  17. Black Legal Action Centre
  18. Black Protest Legal Support UK
  19. Black Sex Worker Collective and Best Practices Policy Project and the Outlaw Project and Desiree Alliance and New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance
  20. Center for Reproductive Rights and the National Birth Equity Collaborative
  21. Centre Suisse pour la Défense des Droits des Migrants (CSDM)
  22. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) and Diáspora Africana de la Argentina (DIAFAR)
  23. Cheryl Sterling
  24. Coalición indígena de migrantes de Chiapas and Proyecto Afrodescedencia Mexico and Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración A.C. (IMUMI)
  25. Committee to Protect Journalists
  26. Conectas Direitos Humanos
  27. Conflict Scholars Collective for Healing and Racial Reconciliation
  28. Convention Against Torture Initiative (CTI)
  29. Cristosal
  30. Disability Rights Ohio
  31. Forensic Architecture and Bellingcat
  32. Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School
  33. Harm Reduction International and Release
  34. HERE4Justice
  35. HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation
  36. Hogan Lovells
  37. Human Rights First
  38. Human Rights Watch (HRW)
  39. Ilex Acción Jurídica
  40. Iniciativa Direito à Memória e Justiça Racial (DMJ)
  41. INQUEST
  42. Intel Corporation
  43. International Commission of Inquiry
  44. International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G)
  45. International Human Rights Clinic at Santa Clara University School of Law
  46. International Human Rights Council
  47. International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO)
  48. International Service for Human Rights, Le Comité Adama, et l’Association A Qui Le Tour ?
  49. Julia Wright for The Campaign To Bring Mumia Home and International Concerned Family and Friends for Mumia Abu-Jamal
  50. Justicia Racial
  51. Kilómetro Cero
  52. LatinoJustice PRLDEF
    1-2
  53. Maat association for Peace, Development and Human Rights
  54. Marc Brenman
  55. Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network
  56. Dr. Michael McEachrane, Visiting Researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Co-founder of the European Network of People of African Descent (ENPAD) and Board Member of Black Lives Matter Sweden (BLMSWE)
  57. Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB)
  58. Mothers of Still Incarcerated Chicago Police Torture Survivors and Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity (MAMAS) and Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST) and the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) People of African Descent Working Group
  59. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. (LDF)
  60. National Jericho Movement to Free all Political Prisoners and The US Human Rights Network (USHRN) People of African Descent Working Group
  61. National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Chicago and the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Illinois at Chicago John Marshall Law School
  62. ONG Ascendances Afro Océan Indien
  63. Organización de Mujeres Afrodescendientes de Bluefields, (OMAN), la Alianza de Pueblos Indígenas y Afrodescendientes de Nicaragua (APIAN) y el Gobierno Comunal Creole de Bluefields (GCCB)
  64. Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)
  65. Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA)
  66. Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
  67. Race Equality First
  68. Rainbow Push Coalition
  69. Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas Afrocaribeñas y de la Diaspora Capítulo Mexico and Proyecto Afrodescendencia Mexico
  70. Rede Nacional de Mulheres Negras no Combate á Violência
  71. Rev. Dr. Robert Turner (Historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church)
  72. Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC)
  73. The Movement for Black Lives
  74. The Talking Drum Incorporated
  75. Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law and on behalf of the Michael O.D. Brown “We Love Our Sons & Daughters” Foundation
  76. Transitional Justice Institute and Law School Ulster University and Mitchell Institute and The Centre for Documentary Research QUB
  77. Ubuntu Institute for Community Development
  78. United African Organization and USHRN (US Human Rights Network) People of African Descent Working Group
  79. United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA)
  80. US Human Rights Network (USHRN)
  81. University of Minnesota Human Rights Program
  82. University of Southern California Gould School of Law International Human Rights Clinic and Access Now with the support of Foley Hoag LLP
  83. US Human Rights Network (USHRN) People of African Descent Working Group
  84. WITNESS
  85. Women’s All Points Bulletin (WAPB)
  86. Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center