Floyd’s brother calls for UN inquiry into racism

Human Rights Council urged to investigate police violence in U.S.

The brother of George Floyd made a heartfelt plea on Wednesday to the UN’s top human-rights body, urging it to launch intense international scrutiny of systemic racism, the killing of Black people by police and violence against peaceful protesters in the United States.

Philonise Floyd, in a video message to the Human Rights Council, backed a call by dozens of African countries hoping to create a Commission of Inquiry — the council’s most powerful tool of scrutiny — to report on racism and violence against protesters by police in the U.S.

The unprecedented effort to train a potentially uncomfortable spotlight on the U.S., which calls itself the world’s “leading advocate” for human rights, comes as it has no voice in the room: the Trump administration pulled out of the 47-member body two years ago.

Floyd joined the UN human rights chief, the council’s independent rapporteur on racism, and many diplomats at an “urgent debate” championed by the Africa Group in the wake of his brother’s death. George Floyd, a Black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes as he pleaded for air and eventually stopped moving

“I am my brother’s keeper. You in the United Nations are your brothers and sisters’ keepers in America — and you have the power to help us get justice for my brother George Floyd,” Philonise Floyd said. “I am asking you to help him. I am asking you to help me. I am asking you to help us — Black people in America.”

The council has regularly addressed police brutality and racial profiling in the United States, and they were major themes during its last turn five years ago for a regular review of its human-rights record that all countries go through at the council.

But never before has the United States’ record in those areas led to an “urgent debate” on its record in those areas.

The U.S. ambassador in Geneva, Andrew Bremberg ahead of the debate acknowledged “shortcomings” in the United States, including racial discrimination, and insisted the government was “transparent” about dealing with it.

U.S. President Donald Trump has condemned the actions of police officers who were linked to George Floyd’s death, and on Tuesday signed an executive order on police reform.

“The United States recognizes and is committed to addressing its shortcomings, including racial discrimination, and injustices that stem from such discrimination, that persist in our society,” Bremberg said.

The executive order, Bremberg said in a statement, was “an example of how transparent and responsive our government leaders are in holding violators accountable for their actions and reforming our own system.”

The UN-backed council was also discussing a draft resolution floated by the Africa Group that singles out the United States. The text calls for a commission of inquiry to examine and report on “systemic racism” and abuses against “Africans and of people of African descent” in the U.S. and beyond.