Geneva, 21 April 2021
“This is a momentous verdict. It is also a testament to the courage and perseverance of George Floyd’s family and many
others in calling for justice. As the jury recognised, the evidence in this case was crystal clear. Any other result
would have been a travesty of justice.
But for countless other victims of African descent and their families, in the United States and throughout the world,
the fight for justice goes on. The battle to get cases of excessive force or killings by police before the courts, let
alone win them, is far from over.
Impunity for crimes and human rights violations by law enforcement officers must end, and we need to see robust measures
to prevent further arbitrary killings. As we have painfully witnessed in recent days and weeks, reforms to policing
departments across the US continue to be insufficient to stop people of African descent from being killed. It is time to
move on from talk of reform to truly rethinking policing as currently practised in the US and elsewhere.
This case has also helped reveal, perhaps more clearly than ever before, how much remains to be done to reverse the tide
of systemic racism that permeates the lives of people of African descent. We need to move to whole-of-government and
whole-of-society approaches that dismantle systemic racism.
I recognize that in the US important steps are being put in place with that end in mind. These efforts must accelerate
and expand, and must not be diluted when the public focus moves elsewhere.
Now is also the time to critically examine the context in which George Floyd’s killing took place by revisiting the
past, and examining its toxic traces in today’s society. The redesign of our future can only be through the full and
equal participation of people of African descent, and in ways which transform their interactions with law enforcement,
and, more broadly, in all aspects of their lives.
The entrenched legacy of discriminatory policies and systems, including the legacies of enslavement and transatlantic
trade and the impact of colonialism, must be decisively uprooted in order to achieve racial justice and equality. If
they are not, the verdict in this case will just be a passing moment when the stars aligned for justice, rather than a
true turning point.”
ENDS
The High Commissioner will present a report in June 2021, pursuant to UN Human Rights Council resolution 43/1, that will
include an agenda for transformative change to dismantle systemic racism and police brutality against Africans and
people of African descent, and to advance accountability and redress for victims. Resolution 43/1 was adopted by the
Human Rights Council in June 2020 following the killing of George Floyd.