U.N. report reveals systemic racism in U.S. criminal justice system
According to report, more than 1,000 people are killed by police officers in the U.S. each year and only 1% of killer were prosecuted
GENEVA – A report released Thursday by U.N. human rights experts found systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system and policing.
They revealed that “racism in the U.S. — a legacy of slavery, the slave trade, and 100 years of legalized apartheid — still exists today in the form of racial profiling, police killings, and many other human rights abuses.
The report calls for urgent reforms in the U.S. to address systemic racism, horrific prison conditions, and human rights abuses.
It calls for a comprehensive approach that includes legislative action, addressing poverty, and ensuring quality education and health care.
U.N. officials collected testimonies from 133 affected individuals, visited five prisons, and met with stakeholders and numerous government and police officials in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, and Washington.
The report cites cases of prisoners locked in solitary confinement for a decade or more —which is widely recognized as a form of psychological torture— – children sentenced to life in prison, and pregnant inmates chained during childbirth.
“All these practices—including shackling pregnant women before, during, and after labor—are an affront to human dignity and the best interest of the child,” the report stated.
The experts were “astonished” that unpaid or poorly paid forced labor by inmates “exists to this day in the United States.”
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime.
According to the report, more than 1,000 people are killed by police officers in the U.S. each year. Only 1% of these result in the killer being prosecuted.
The report makes more than 30 recommendations, including implementing the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Four-Point Agenda for Racial Justice and Equality and adopting a human rights-based approach to policing and immigration.
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