The Chairman of the UN Expert Panel on People of African Descent, Mr. Ricardo Sunga III condemned on Friday the back-to-back killings of two African-American men by police in the US last week, saying the incidents demonstrated “a high level of structural and institutional racism”.
“The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent is outraged and strongly condemns the new police killings of two African-American men,” Mr. Sunga III said.
He stated: “These killings which were captured on video cannot be ignored. We call for prompt independent investigations to ensure the perpetrators are prosecuted and punished.”
The statement was issued following this week’s deaths of Mr. Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana at the hands of the police, and Thursday night’s killing of five police officers in downtown Dallas, Texas.
According to the statement, “excessive use of force by the police against African-Americans in the US is a regular occurrence and African-Americans are reportedly shot at more than twice the rate of white people.”
It noted that the Working Group was monitoring the situation and has repeatedly expressed its concern to the US government about police killings of African-Americans and called for justice.
It expressed its conviction that the root of the problem lies in the lack of accountability for perpetrators of such killings despite the evidence.
“The killings also demonstrate a high level of structural and institutional racism. The United States is far from recognizing the same rights for all its citizens, and existing measures to address racist crimes motivated by prejudice are insufficient and have failed to stop the killings.
“It is time, now, for the US government to strongly assert that Black lives matter and prevent any further killings as a matter of national priority,” said the statement
