UN "Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent" Accuses US Cops of "Lynching," Calls for Slave Reparations

On Monday, September 26, 2016, the United Nations' "Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent" presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council about "racial terrorism" in the United States. The Working Group, composed of international lawyers from the Philippines, France, South Africa, Poland, and Jamaica, provides the UN Human Rights Council with non-binding "proposals on the elimination of racial discrimination against Africans and people of African descent in all parts of the world." The report, which was published on August 18, 2016, includes the following:

"1. At the invitation of the Government of the United States of America, the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent undertook a visit to the United States from 19 to 29 January 2016. The members of the delegation were Mireille Fanon Mendès-France [France], Sabelo Gumedze [South Africa] and Ricardo Sunga III [Philippines]...

Conclusions...

67. The Working Group welcomes the growing human rights movement in the United States, which has successfully advocated for social change. Following the epidemic of racial violence by the police, civil society networks such as Black Lives Matter, together with other activists, are strongly advocating for racial justice, legal and policy reforms, and citizen control over policing and other areas which directly target African Americans.

68. Despite the positive measures, the Working Group remains extremely concerned about the human rights situation of African Americans. In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent. Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching. Impunity for State violence has resulted in the current human rights crisis and must be addressed as a matter of urgency...

Recommendations...

91. There is a profound need to acknowledge that the transatlantic trade in Africans, enslavement, colonization and colonialism were a crime against humanity and are among the major sources and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, Afrophobia, xenophobia and related intolerance. Past injustices and crimes against African Americans need to be addressed with reparatory justice..."