U.N. ‘Watchdog’ Seizes on Ferguson Shooting to Slam the U.S. for Racial Discrimination

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination completed a report which “reviewed” the U.S. for evidence of racial bias and it released a statement today.

Salon reported on the U.N.’s condemnation and that “we are not doing so well.” (Apparently, when the U.N.’s bureaucrats of unimpeachable integrity speak out, Americans should be kept up late at night worrying about it.)

Here is the list that looks more in line with advancing a political agenda than a fact-based presentation. In addition, many of these items appear to call for more government control, which may not solve the problems:

1. Lack of a national human rights institution
2. Persistent racial profiling and illegal surveillance
3. Prevalence and under-reporting of racist hate speech and hate crimes
4. Disparate impact of environmental pollution in low income and minority communities
5. Restrictive voter identification laws leading to unequal right to vote
6. Criminalization of homelessness when homeless people are disproportionately minorities
7. Discrimination and segregation in housing
8. De facto racial segregation in education
9. Unequal right to health and access to health care
10. High number of gun-related deaths and “Stand Your Ground” laws, which disproportionately affect members of racial and ethnic minorities
11. Excessive use of force by law enforcement officials
12. Increasingly militarized approach to immigration law enforcement
13. Violence against women occurs disproportionately more frequently for women from racial/ethnic minorities
14. Criminal justice system disproportionately arrests, incarcerates and subjects to harsher sentences people from racial/ethnic minorities
15. Youth from racial/ethnic minorities are disproportionately prosecuted as adults, incarcerated in adult prisons, and sentenced to life without parole
16. Non-citizens are arbitrarily detained in Guantanamo Bay without equal access to the criminal justice system, while at risk of being subjected to torture
17. Unequal access to legal aid
18. Lacking rights of indigenous peoples (the report lists numerous different concerns)
19. Absence of a National Action Plan to combat racial discrimination

In the U.N.’s 19 points of concern, the following points about the Ferguson shooting and riots were made:

The excessive use of force by law enforcement officials against racial and ethnic minorities is an ongoing issue of concern and particularly in light of the shooting of Michael Brown.

This is not an isolated event and illustrates a bigger problem in the United States, such as racial bias among law enforcement officials, the lack of proper implementation of rules and regulations governing the use of force, and the inadequacy of training and law enforcement officials.

As this “review” of the U.S. by the U.N. was not requested by any Congressional or Executive group, it should be treated as unsolicited advice and given the type of attention such things deserve.

The “unsolicited advice” fails to note that there is an ongoing investigation into the matter and numerous conflicting reports about what actually happened at Ferguson. Before U.N. officials latch onto explosive news stories that are still developing (and there is no evidence of racial bias on the part of the shooting officer Darren Wilson), perhaps they might want to refrain from giving them international attention with their commentary.

Ironically, this particular committee itself has drawn fire from news agencies like the BBC for the way it was created. As an example, the committee’s vice chairman Noureddine Amir hails from Algeria, which is itself a human rights cesspool, especially when compared to the United States.

If you look at the totality of the statistics of racial violence in America and police shootings statistics, the U.N.’s claims come off as more in line with their political agenda than a sober and helpful analysis of the actual situation in the United States.