[ASA_PEWS] Sign on -organizations- UN report on systemic racism and police violence

[Smith, Jackie]

Dear PEWS colleagues,

I'm sharing the following request from international human rights leaders to ask your organizations to sign the following letter to UN and international officials in regard to the report being prepared by the UN Human Rights Council<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fq%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fdocument%2Fd%2F1yUbi7pmAB8h-X0LhoekWUUE2MLmZxFzn%2Fedit%26sa%3DD%26source%3Deditors%26ust%3D1618835540162000%26usg%3DAFQjCNEvNM2BvWYAifdjzWkD8zGl42yE4A&data=04%7C01%7Cjgsmith%40pitt.edu%7C515eb12227874d55decb08d904443b00%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C637545513350810213%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=8pTz9Vs5WD9rTiM661JV9vWiJO9Xy1GWQoJv9jI8q2A%3D&reserved=0> in response to last summer's initiative by George Floyd's family and other victims of U.S. police violence. This is an important opportunity for us to help bring international pressure on U.S. leaders to address fundamental injustices at home, and to help more U.S. residents engage with global conversations on racism and reparations.

DETAILS:
In June 2021, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to present her final report to the Human Rights Council mandated by HRC Resolution 43/1 on the promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers.

We want to ensure that the Council continues to address these important issues. We prepared two letters addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the African Group urging them to support the demands made by victims' families, civil society organizations and UN Special Procedures in June 2020.

Victims' families and many of our organizations have called on the Council to mandate an independent inquiry into the killings and violent law enforcement responses to protests, including the attacks against protesters and journalists in the United States. The Special Procedures strongly urged the Council to establish a commission of inquiry to "investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States" and a "thematic commission of inquiry or other mechanism empowered to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement globally, especially where it is related to legacies of colonialism and transatlantic slavery."

The letters are supported by families of victims of police violence in the U.S.


Read the letter addressed to the High Commissioner here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yUbi7pmAB8h-X0LhoekWUUE2MLmZxFzn/edit<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fq%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fdocument%2Fd%2F1yUbi7pmAB8h-X0LhoekWUUE2MLmZxFzn%2Fedit%26sa%3DD%26source%3Deditors%26ust%3D1618835540162000%26usg%3DAFQjCNEvNM2BvWYAifdjzWkD8zGl42yE4A&data=04%7C01%7Cjgsmith%40pitt.edu%7C515eb12227874d55decb08d904443b00%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C637545513350815188%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=wuMIIjKyIs5V0pnUcEMMkK3DGmmgguzFTwUpyz0u93c%3D&reserved=0>

Read the letter addressed to the African Group here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c_EAeDJajIuHmOXpLbkYFFm_RrYfrrns/edit#<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fq%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fdocument%2Fd%2F1c_EAeDJajIuHmOXpLbkYFFm_RrYfrrns%2Fedit%2523%26sa%3DD%26source%3Deditors%26ust%3D1618835540162000%26usg%3DAFQjCNHp2UqtXFfb3uT3GcGiNJGfFrul7w&data=04%7C01%7Cjgsmith%40pitt.edu%7C515eb12227874d55decb08d904443b00%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C637545513350820166%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=ZdcbksmCvtaBBom6VbBofw8AW7G2M%2F%2FdHs98mFaFLCM%3D&reserved=0>

Read Resolution 43/1 here:
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/43/1<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fq%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fundocs.org%2FA%2FHRC%2FRES%2F43%2F1%26sa%3DD%26source%3Deditors%26ust%3D1618835540162000%26usg%3DAFQjCNHRnfn4jApaS3bqtV17U9Vx-5mpwQ&data=04%7C01%7Cjgsmith%40pitt.edu%7C515eb12227874d55decb08d904443b00%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C637545513350825145%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=d%2F%2F7xl0JF5NXzuxO2NGYNQp7%2BOuBm3iw2p5bD0Va%2F0U%3D&reserved=0>

Sign on by filling this form by 29 April COB (CET)<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fforms%2Fd%2F18RGD3EOfmphtrjN1r2E2-UU7M5mi4Ayex9KnQeueGow%2Fviewform%3Fts%3D6076f91a%26edit_requested%3Dtrue&data=04%7C01%7Cjgsmith%40pitt.edu%7C515eb12227874d55decb08d904443b00%7C9ef9f489e0a04eeb87cc3a526112fd0d%7C1%7C0%7C637545513350830123%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=RK9Q%2BRFmPMfHsfk%2BwlxGADCMrcWi7dBEtsBbCjQR8HQ%3D&reserved=0>




***********
Jackie Smith, Professor
Department of Sociology
University of Pittsburgh
2400 Posvar Hall
230 S. Bouquet St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Past editor, Journal of World-Systems Research<http://jwsr.pitt.edu/> (Open Access)