Background

Pursuant to paragraph 15 of the Human Rights Council Resolution 47/21, the International Independent Expert Mechanism to advance racial justice and equality for Africans and people of African descent in the context of law enforcement (the “Expert Mechanism”) will present its second report at the fifty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council in September 2023, and subsequently transmit it to the General Assembly.

Learn more about the mechanism here.

In its upcoming report, the Expert Mechanism will explore its mandate in paragraph 11(f) of resolution 47/21, to advance racial justice and equality for Africans and people of African descent in the context of law enforcement inter alia by “Making recommendations with regard to addressing systemic racism, in law enforcement and the criminal justice systems, closing trust deficits, strengthening institutional oversight, adopting alternative and complementary methods to policing and the use of force, and encouraging stocktaking of lessons learned”.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

The Expert Mechanism would welcome information on the following areas considering the focus of its report:

• Laws, policies, guidelines, and procedures compliant with the international legal framework governing the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials.
• Promising initiatives and positive or good practices being taken to address systemic racism in law enforcement and the criminal justice systems beyond individual violations, including in an institutionalized police culture.
• Promising initiatives and positive or good practices on prevention and accountability measures for human rights violations by law enforcement. These may include oversight, monitoring, and reporting of violations, gathering and publishing comprehensive disaggregated data, human rights training, recruitment, and retention processes, and awareness-raising.
• Good practices, challenges and lessons learned on alternative methods of policing, strengthening institutional oversight, and closing trust deficits.

Download the call for inputs (Word): English | Français | Español

How inputs will be used

Unless otherwise specified, all contributions will be made available in full and as received on the public website of the Expert Mechanism. It should be noted that not all information shared will necessarily be reflected in the final report and that information falling outside the mandate will not be considered.