By: Dr. Nana Kojo Impraim
Chairperson of the International Independent Experts Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement, at the 33rd Meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, 51st Regular Session, Geneva, Switzerland, Justice Ivonne Makgoro, says the world is confronted with disproportionate use of brute force by the police in law maintenance, particularly, against people of African descent at the Global North and Global South.
This she said has resulted in unwarranted attacks and killings of citizens of African descent, which has generated significant global concerns.
Discussants at the conference reflected on the lived experiences and killings of people of African descent such as George Floyd, 46 on 25 May, 2020, which sparked global outcry, outreach and anti-racial protest in the United State of America, Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas, 40 on 20 November, 2020, in Brazil on the eve of Black Consciousness Day, and brutal killing of Bruno Cande Marques, 39 on 25 July, 2020, in Portugal.
The killings attracted anti-racism protests and global condemnations of how the police illegitimately and indiscriminately applied undeserved force in law maintenance. Such killings they noted are underpinned by white supremacy.
Other incidences of brutalities against people of African descent happened on 14 May 2022, where 10 people of African descent were killed and three injured at Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in Buffalo, New York, United States. Similarly, in July, 2021, the maintenance of law and order by the police in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, resulted in the brutal murder of 1,354 citizens.
Again, 1,245 and 1,814 citizens were killed by a police raid in 2020 and 2019 respectively, the majority of whom were young people of African descent. Additionally, on 24 June, 2022, 23 Africans were killed attempting to cross the Spanish-Moroccan border in Malilia.
Justice Ivonne Makgoro was unhappy that despite global attention to police brutalities, excessive use of force and unwarranted killings of people, especially of African descent continue with impunity. The Executive Director of Mothers Against Police Brutalities, Ms. Flanagan sharing her experience on police brutalities against people of African descent, disclosed that her only son, Clinton was brutally and dastardly killed at age 25 on 10 March, 2013 by a police officer in Dallas, Texas. She said issues of human rights in policing must be of concern to the global community.
Attacks, brutalities and killings of citizens especially of the black race by the police are said to happen in several dimensions across the globe. In the USA, for instance, thousands of people are shot dead annually by the police majority of whom are blacks. Between 2015 and 2021 over seven thousand people were pitifully shot dead by the police in the USA. Only few of these cases were indicted, convictions produced and trial.
The police often escape civil and legal accountability for alleged brutalities and unwarranted use of force and killings of civilians, especially those of African descent. These killings are just a few lists for reflection, among several thousand global homicides due to police brutalities and unwarranted application of force in law maintenance.
The application of needless force by the police is impaired by an unequal and disproportional representation of victims of their rights to justice, the criminal administrative system and judicial procedures.
