African nations seek global debate on racism, brutality

Following the uproar the killing of African-American, George Floyd, by a white policeman in the United States generated across the globe, 54 African countries have asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police brutality.

In a letter to the global organisation in Geneva, the nations implored the topmost rights body to immediately initiate a discourse on “racially-inspired human rights violations, police brutality against people of African descent and the violence against the peaceful protests that call for these injustices to stop.”

The correspondence, which was addressed to the council president, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger of Austria, requested that the debate should be held when the council’s 43rd session resumes, having being interrupted in March by the coronavirus scourge.