“I am concerned by the grand juries’ decisions and the apparent conflicting evidence that exists relating to both incidents. A trial process would ensure that all the evidence is considered in detail and that justice can take its proper course. The decisions leave many with legitimate concerns relating to a pattern of impunity when the victims of excessive use of force come from African-American or other minority communities,” the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues Rita Izsak said in a statement published on the UN Human Rights Office website.
The non-indictment decisions have sparked a renewed wave of demonstrations across the United States against what is considered by many in the African-American community to be unlawful killings and further examples of lethal force being disproportionately used against young African-American men.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon through his spokesman on Thursday urged “the demonstrators to demonstrate peacefully and for the authorities to respect the right of those demonstrators to do so peacefully.”
Last week, the United States saw another wave of unrest over the decision not to bring charges against white police officer Darren Wilson, who shot dead Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, in August.
