The NYPD needs to The UN’s failure to act on race
be policed by an
inspector general
Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King,
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, June 26-July 2, 2020
By Kwame Akonor
Kwame Akonor is an associate
professor at Seton Hall
University, where he teaches
international relations and
human rights.
SOUTH ORANGE, New
Jersey, June 24, 2020 (IPS) —
Racism is not only an American
problem but a plague
that people of African descent
have had to endure since time
immemorial.
Rather than seizing this
historic moment to act decisively,
the United Nations, the
world’s highest platform for
human rights, dithered on
the issue when it was called
on to establish a full commission
of inquiry on race
following the outrageous killing
of George Floyd on May
25 2020.
That the African countries
on the 47-member
UN Human Rights Council
(UNHRC) were cajoled by
more powerful UN member
states to soften its demand
for such a commission should
come as no surprise. African
states are the largest regional
group at the UN, yet it continues
to play a peripheral role in
global affairs.
In 1945, four African countries
(Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia,
and the Union of South Africa)
attended the San Francisco
Conference and signed the
UN Charter. Since then the
number of African countries
has increased, mainly due to
decolonization, to 54 (28 percent
of UN members).
Despite its current representation,
Africa remains
marginalized and powerless
in the world body. As any
student of international relations
knows, real power in
UN lies with the veto wielding
five permanent members of
the Security Council (China,
France, Russia, the United
Kingdom, and the United
States).
African countries have a
common vision for inclusion
and expansion for two permanent
and five non-permanent
security council seats for Africa.
Though it is not wedded to
idea of a veto and would prefer
its abolition, the African
group maintains that for the
sake of efficiency and equitable
distribution of power all
admitted permanent members
should possess it.
The collective, however,
cannot agree on which
countries to recommend for
permanent seats let alone
those to be assigned veto
powers. The three potential
candidates mentioned as
permanent members with
veto rights are South Africa,
Nigeria, and Egypt.
The inability of Africans to
agree on the composition and
mandate of its reform proposals
have made it susceptible to
the dictates and influence of
western donor countries.
Be that it is, one can make
the case that a meaningful
structural reform of the
Security Council that accords
agency to Africa at the UN
will not only be a pragmatic
reflection of contemporary
geopolitical realties but more
importantly it will serve as
a correction of the historic
injustice done to Africa.
The UNHRC urgent debate
opened in Geneva on June
15, 2020 and discussion on
the Africa resolution began
in earnest on June 17, 2020.
The original proposal by the
Africans specially called for
an international investigation
into the unarmed killing
of blacks in America and
the lack of accountability of
police violence that results
from such crimes, including
police brutality against protesters.
In the end, a watered-down
version of the resolution was
adopted unanimously on June
19, 2020. Mention of the creation
of full-fledged commission
of inquiry was dropped
and the scope of inquiry
was broadened to go beyond
America.
The final resolution recommended
a mere fact-finding
report on systemic racism
and discrimination against
black people to be prepared by
the UNHRC chairperson and
other experts and delivered in
a year’s time.
Though the US withdrew
from the UNHRC in 2018,
the final resolution passed
because the US, the UN’s biggest
financial donor, was “the
elephant in the room” calling
the shots.
The US argued that while
it was not above scrutiny, the
UNCHR’s attempt to single
it out was hypocritical since
By Sanford Rubenstein
A recent hearing was held by
the Public Safety Committee of
the New York City Council in
which elected officials, high ranking
members of the NYPD, and
community leaders gave testimony
regarding the disparity in
the enforcement by the NYPD of
social distancing and protective
face mask requirements.
I participated in that hearing
and gave testimony from my perspective
as a civil rights attorney
who has represented victims of
police wrongdoing for over twenty
five years. I have represented
Abner Louima tortured in the
bathroom of a Brooklyn police
precinct, as well as many families
who suffered the wrongful death
of a loved one at the hands of
members of the New York City
Police Department including the
families of Ousmane Zongo, Sean
Bell, Sergeant Noel Polcano, and
Eric Garner, just to name a few. In
addition, over the years I have also
represented numerous injured
victims of police brutality.
Most recently I have been asked
to represent Donni Wright an
innocent bystander thrown to the
ground, punched repeatedly, and
sat on by a plainclothes officer
all captured on video which went
viral, the police officer in which
according to press reports had
seven prior incidents of excessive
force which the NYPD was aware
of, as well as 22-year-old Kaleemah
Rozier a mother thrown
to the ground by multiple police
officers at the Barclay Center subway
station while her 5-year-old
son watched in horror.
The testimony at the hearing
made it clear to me that the
system by which the NYPD disciplines
its officers who engage
in misconduct while interacting
with members of the public is
broken. While the Mayor has put
an end to the NYPD enforcing
social distancing requirements
and the wearing of protective face
masks, evidence of the brutality
by NYPD officers in the videos in
the Wright and Rozier cases as
well as a number of other recent
videos of police officers brutalizing
members of the public demonstrate
this brutality must end.
There is no excuse for police
officers to act like thugs under the
color of law. What is demonstrated
by those videos is that there
are NYPD officers who apparently
believe they can act with impunity
when brutalizing citizens without
concern for being disciplined
for their wrongful acts. These videos
also demonstrate that under
the present system of disciplining
police, our Police Commissioner
does not have some members of
the police force he commands
under control.
When all that happens in the
Wright case is the officer gets
desk duty and continues to be
paid his salary and in the Rozier
case there is no discipline and
officers remain on full salary,
it shows there is a structural
OP-EDS
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Continued on Page 11
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“I am my brother’s keeper,” Philonise Floyd tells UN
rights body, in impassioned plea for racial justice. United
Nations
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