The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Wednesday urged the United States government to “unequivocally and unconditionally” reject and condemn the racist hate speech and violence in Charlottesville and in other parts of the country.
The committee issued a decision under its “early warning and urgent action” procedure and said there should be no place in the world for “racist white supremacist ideas or any similar ideologies that reject the core human rights principles of human dignity and equality.”
“We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred,” said CERD Chairperson Anastasia Crickley.
The UN experts asked US authorities to take concrete measures to address the “root causes of the proliferation of such racist manifestations” and also asked for a criminal investigation into the person who ploughed his car into the crowd during the protests at Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one person.
“We call on the US Government to investigate thoroughly the phenomenon of racial discrimination targeting, in particular, people of African descent, ethnic or ethno-religious minorities, and migrants,” added Crickley.
On August 12, a white nationalist rally in the city of Charlottesville had turned violent, with a car ramming into a number of people who were protesting peacefully against the demonstration. Two police officers were also killed later while trying to assist curbing the violence.
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