New York, US (PANA) – In the wake of the attack that left nine African-Americans dead at church in Charleston in US State of South Carolina, a Group of UN human rights experts called on Friday for prompt action by US authorities to investigate the hate crimes and urged measures to prevent gun violence affecting the security of African-Americans, their communities and wider society.
Issuing a statement in New York on behalf of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, the current Chairperson, Ms. Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France, denounced what the experts have flagged as racially motivated 17 June killings.
“We utterly condemn the appalling attack on the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina, this week and the killing of nine African-Americans,” the experts said.
They, however, welcomed the prompt action by US authorities to investigate the hate crime, noting that, every effort must be made to ensure the person guilty of this act was prosecuted and punished accordingly.
They stated that “urgent measures must be taken to prevent gun violence and racist crimes motivated by prejudice that affect the security of Afro-Americans, their communities and society as a whole.”
The statement said the Group’s heartfelt condolences were offered to the people of the US, especially the families and friends of those who were murdered while in worship at Church.
The Working Group, established on 25 April 2002 by the UN Commission on Human Rights, is composed of five independent experts serving in their personal capacities.
The experts’ comments echo UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s strong condemnation of the killings in a statement issued on Thursday in New York.
The UN chief also expressed the hope that those responsible for such a “hateful act of violence” would be brought to justice and extended his deep condolences to the loved ones of the victims and his solidarity to the survivors.
A suspect in the murders, Dylann Roof, 21, appeared in court in Charleston on Friday to face nine murder charges. He was arrested on Thursday in the neighbouring US State of North Carolina.
