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	Urgent call for States to adopt a 'transformative agenda' to uproot systemic racism by UN Human Rights Office, agencies   June 2021   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has issued an urgent call for States to adopt a “transformative agenda” to uproot systemic racism, as she published a report casting a spotlight on the litany of violations of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights suffered by people of African descent – on a daily basis and across different States and jurisdictions.   The report states that the worldwide mobilization of people calling for racial justice has forced a long-delayed reckoning with racism and shifted debates towards a focus on the systemic nature of racism and the institutions that perpetrate it.   “The status quo is untenable,” High Commissioner Bachelet said. “Systemic racism needs a systemic response. There needs to be a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal approach to dismantling systems entrenched in centuries of discrimination and violence. We need a transformative approach that tackles the interconnected areas that drive racism, and lead to repeated, wholly avoidable, tragedies like the death of George Floyd.”   “I am calling on all States to stop denying, and start dismantling, racism; to end impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to confront past legacies and deliver redress.”   The UN Human Rights Office was mandated in June 2020 by Human Rights Council resolution 43/1 – in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in the United States – to produce a comprehensive report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, government responses to anti-racism peaceful protests, as well as accountability and redress for victims.   The analysis carried out by the Office is based on online consultations with over 340 individuals, mostly of African descent; over 110 written contributions, including with States; on a review of publicly available material; and on additional consultations with relevant experts.   The report details the “compounding inequalities” and “stark socioeconomic and political marginalization” that afflict people of African descent in many States.   Across numerous countries, most notably in North and South America and in Europe, people of African descent disproportionately live in poverty and face serious barriers in accessing their rights to education, healthcare, employment, adequate housing and clean water, as well as to political participation, and other fundamental human rights.   “The dehumanization of people of African descent has sustained and cultivated a tolerance for racial discrimination, inequality and violence,” the report says.   In examining deaths at the hands of law enforcement officials in different countries with varying legal systems, the report found “striking similarities” and patterns – including in the hurdles families face in accessing justice.   While there is a lack of comprehensive official disaggregated data in individual countries regarding police killings of people of African descent, a patchwork of available data paints “an alarming picture of system-wide, disproportionate and discriminatory impacts on people of African descent in their encounters with law enforcement and the criminal justice system in some States,” the report says.   The report sets out three key contexts in which police-related fatalities have occurred most frequently: the policing of minor offences, traffic stops and stop-and-searches; the intervention of law enforcement officials as first responders in mental health crises; and the conduct of special police operations in the context of the “war on drugs” or gang-related operations.   In many of the cases examined, the information shared indicates that the victims did not appear to pose an imminent threat of death or serious injury to law enforcement officials, or to the public, that would justify the level of force used.   The High Commissioner’s analysis of 190 deaths demonstrated that law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for human rights violations and crimes against people of African descent, due in part to deficient investigations, a lack of independent and robust oversight and complaint and accountability mechanisms, and a widespread “presumption of guilt” against people of African descent.   With rare exceptions, investigations, prosecutions, trials and judicial decisions fail to consider the role that racial discrimination, stereotypes and institutional bias may have played in the deaths.   Seven illustrative cases were particularly closely examined: Luana Barbosa dos Reis Santos and João Pedro Matos Pinto (Brazil); George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (United States); Kevin Clarke (United Kingdom); Janner (Hanner) García Palomino (Colombia) and Adama Traoré (France).   Families of those who died after an encounter with law enforcement officials told UN human rights staff of their fervent desire to establish the truth about how their loved ones died, to hold those responsible to account as well as to prevent others from suffering a similar fate.   Many of the families “felt continuously betrayed by the system,” and spoke of “a profound lack of trust,” the report notes, adding that “it often falls on victims and families to fight for accountability without adequate support.”   “Several families described to me the agony they faced in pursuing truth, justice and redress – and the distressing presumption that their loved ones somehow ‘deserved it’,” Bachelet said. “It is disheartening that the system is not stepping up to support them. This must change.”   The report also sets out concerns of “excessive policing of Black bodies and communities, making them feel threatened rather than protected,” citing the criminalization of children of African descent as one key issue.   Credible and consistent allegations were also received about differential treatment, and unnecessary and disproportionate use of force in the context of anti-racism protests, notably in the United States. In that context, large numbers of protesters were arrested, the report notes, and there were numerous disparaging comments from officials against the protesters, including labelling them as “terrorists” and “sick and deranged anarchists and agitators”.   The report states that while charges were reportedly dropped against the majority of those arrested, “the clampdown on anti-racism protests that has occurred in some countries must be seen within a broader context in which individuals who stand up against racism face reprisals, including harassment, intimidation and sometimes violence.”   “The voices of those seeking racial justice and equality for people of African descent must be heard and acted on,” the report says, adding that civil society activism is “crucial for advancing ideas and aspirational goals in the public domain as a constructive way of affecting change.”   “The Black Lives Matter movement and other civil society groups led by people of African descent have provided grassroots leadership through listening to communities,” Bachelet said.   “They are also providing people with the necessary agency and empowerment that enables them to claim their human rights. Such efforts should receive funding, public recognition and support.”   The High Commissioner’s recommendations included that the Human Rights Council either establish a specific, time-bound mechanism, or strengthen an existing mechanism to advance racial justice and equality in the context of law enforcement in all parts of the world.   The report also identifies a “long-overdue need to confront the legacies of enslavement, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism, and to seek reparatory justice.”   While the report highlights some promising local, national and regional initiatives to undertake truth-seeking and limited forms of reparations, including memorialization, acknowledgements, apologies and litigation, “no State has comprehensively accounted for the past or for the current impact of systemic racism.”   Instead, there remains a pervasive failure to acknowledge the existence and impact of systemic racism and its linkages with enslavement and colonialism.   The High Commissioner called upon all States to adopt “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society” reforms and responses, through adequately resourced national and regional action plans and concrete measures developed through national dialogues, with the meaningful participation and representation of people of African descent.   She stressed the importance of “debunking false narratives that have permitted a succession of racially discriminatory policies and systems to persist and enabled people and governments to deny both what is still happening now, as well as what happened in the past.”   “States must show stronger political will to accelerate action for racial justice, redress and equality through specific, time-bound commitments to achieve results. This will involve reimagining policing, and reforming the criminal justice system, which have consistently produced discriminatory outcomes for people of African descent,” Bachelet said. “It is essential that we finally act to ensure that problematic cycles and patterns do not just go on repeating themselves. There is no excuse to continue avoiding truly transformative change. My Office stands ready to assist States in pursuing transformative change towards justice and equality.”   “Racial discrimination in law enforcement cannot, as the Human Rights Council recognized, be separated from questions of systemic racism,” the High Commissioner concluded. “Only approaches that tackle both the endemic shortcomings in law enforcement, and address systemic racism – and the legacies it is built on – will do justice to the memory of George Floyd and so many others whose lives have been lost or irreparably damaged.”   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/HC-report-systemic-racism.aspx http://m4bl.org/ http://www.thenation.com/article/society/kate-masur-until-justice-be-done/ http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2021/06/17/opinion-celebrating-juneteenth-amid-racial-inequality/5293391001/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/28/what-us-can-do-if-it-really-cares-about-tulsa-race-massacre http://www.pbs.org/newshour/series/race-matters-america-in-crisis http://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/black-lives-matter http://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-response-to-george-floyds-death-reflects-accumulated-grievance-of-black-america http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/naacp-president-there-s-a-level-of-police-violence-against-our-community-that-must-be-addressed-84097093757 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/29/my-fellow-brothers-sisters-blue-what-earth-are-you-doing/   http://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865261916/a-decade-of-watching-black-people-die http://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-nightmare/612457/ http://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2020/stop-racist-harassment-and-ethnic-profiling-europe http://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/05/china-covid-19-discrimination-against-africans http://qz.com/africa/1836510/africans-in-china-being-evicted-from-homes-after-lockdown-ends/ http://items.ssrc.org/category/reading-racial-conflict/ http://inequality-initiative.ssrc.org/an-american-dilemma-for-the-21st-century/an-american-dilemma-for-the-21st-century-conference/ http://www.ssrc.org/events/view/sowing-resolution-the-case-for-reparations-in-action/ http://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg http://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/ http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/racial-justice http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/non-violent-social-movements http://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/more-black-women-are-being-elected-to-office-few-feel-safe-once-they-get-there http://insideclimatenews.org/news/01082021/biden-environmental-justice/ http://naacp.org/news Visit the related web page
	Violence and neglect increases for older persons during lockdown by Claudia Mahler UN Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights of older persons   June 2021   Violence, abuse and neglect of older persons have been brought into sharp focus during the COVID-19 pandemic. To mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Claudia Mahler, the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights of older persons, issues the following statement:   “Distressing reports from care homes in different parts of the world showed neglect, isolation and lack of adequate services, including healthcare, social and legal services. Lockdown measures resulted in increases in gender-based violence and higher risks of violence, abuse and neglect of older persons confined with family members and caregivers.   Despite widespread alarm over the situation of older persons during the pandemic, the challenges and barriers to seek effective redress and remedies have received little attention. On the contrary, some disturbing practices were reported with care homes being given immunity from civil liability for COVID-19 related deaths and putting in place contractual clauses that waive the right to file a court case and make arbitration the only option for alleged abuse or mistreatment.   Elsewhere, older persons and their families expressed despair and frustration with the lack of transparency and responsiveness to complaints raised with aged care services providers.   These developments undermine older persons’ access to justice and to an effective remedy. Older persons are rights holders whose dignity and rights do not have an expiration date in later life. Access to justice encompasses the right to a fair trial, equal access to and equality before the courts, and the right to seek and obtain just and timely remedies for human rights violations.   Entrenched ageist attitudes further hinder older persons from claiming their rights and undermine their autonomy to make their own choices and decisions.   Lack of detailed information and analysis limits the possibility to reveal patterns of abuse which remain vastly under reported and determine the gaps in existing interventions, as well as to identify concrete action needed to provide adequate protection to older persons.   Older persons must not be left behind when seeking redress and remedies. I urge States to adopt a binding international human rights instrument, as well as national legislation and measures, to ensure access to justice for older persons with full respect of their autonomy. This should include the provision of legal aid, dedicated counselling and support services, diverse and age-appropriate formats to share information about rights and legal complaints mechanisms, reduction or exemption of litigation fees, and improved accessibility.”   http://www.helpage.org/newsroom/latest-news/older-people-around-the-world-at-higher-risk-of-abuse-neglect-than-before-the-pandemic-new-report/   June 2021   A report on the impact of COVID-19 on Older People from HelpAge International   In little over a year, COVID-19 has reshaped our world and presented extraordinary challenges to countries globally. By the end of 2020, over 79.2 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported, and total recorded deaths had reached 1.7 million.   It is clear that older people are among those most directly at risk of COVID-19-related serious illness and death. But the indirect effects of COVID-19 – and responses to it – also present critical challenges for older people and affect their wellbeing, dignity, and rights. This is especially true for those who have already experienced a lifetime of poverty, exclusion, and inequality.   Our report Bearing the brunt, provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on older people based on insights from research in low and middle-income countries.   Older people are at higher risk of serious illness and their odds of survival are the lowest. Many have lost their livelihoods and can’t buy the food or medicine they need to survive.   Older people are the age group most at risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19, but the broader impacts of the pandemic and responses to it on the health and wellbeing of older women and men are also severe and will likely go far beyond the immediate effects of the virus.   Older people’s pre-existing challenges in accessing health and care services and support, disruptions to health provision and reduced demand from older people due to fear, anxiety and restrictions on their movement, will likely have long lasting impacts that must be addressed.   Older people in need of long-term care and support, particularly those living in residential care facilities, also appear to be more at risk. Data from these settings is limited, but in contexts where residential care is more common and where some data is available, the challenges appear to be acute, with high rates of infection and deaths among residents and staff.   The pandemic highlights once again, the importance of health system strengthening and achieving age-inclusive Universal Health Coverage (UHC).   The pandemic has also exposed ageism like never before. Older people have been separated and isolated, portrayed as weak and helpless and, their rights have been ignored.   This has taken a toll on their health and wellbeing, and older people now risk facing more violence, abuse and neglect than before the pandemic.   Despite the impact of the pandemic on older people, data issues and gaps continue to exclude older people, and block effective responses and future planning.   The report provides clear recommendations to ensure older people are included in recovery efforts and their rights are respected. It calls on all actors to work together to build a society where everyone lives with dignity, no matter our age.   http://www.helpage.org/what-we-do/bearing-the-brunt/ Visit the related web page
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