Geneva: The United Nations will on Monday review the US rights record, with police brutality and racism, mass surveillance and the legacy of the “war on terror” in the spotlight. The half-day public debate before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva comes as US authorities launched a civil rights investigation into Baltimore’s police department following riots triggered by the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody last month.
Monday’s so-called Universal Periodic Review — which all 193 United Nations countries must undergo every four years — is likely to focus on a string of recent killings of unarmed black men like Gray by the police.One of the most prominent cases was that of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old who was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri, last year, sparking extensive and sometimes violent protests across the nation.
The US delegation, headed by US ambassador to the council Keith Harper and acting US legal advisor Mary McLeod, were expected to face a range of questions about law enforcement tactics, police brutality and the disproportionate impact on African Americans and other minorities. “The world will be asking hard questions of a country that considers itself a human rights champion,” Jamil Dakwar, head of human rights at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said
