Transmittal letter for report
High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet
Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais Wilson
52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland.
Attn: Sara Hamood, Maria Luisa Buscar
Dear High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet:
In a courtroom in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the police officer caught on video with his knee on George Floyd’s neck is currently on trial. It is in this context that the Commissioners of the International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States present their report to you.
This International Commission of Inquiry was empaneled in response to the voices of families throughout the United States who came together in the wake of the killing of George Floyd to ask the Human Rights Council to focus on this important issue. That request resulted in your mandate to undertake a global investigation of systemic racist police violence. We believe our report provides needed information and analysis about the United States to assist
in your investigation.
This report is based primarily on three weeks of hearings into 44 cases and the testimony of several experts. After the Executive Summary and Introduction, the report includes a section on history which places these cases in the context of systemic racism in the United States. The report then provides Findings of Fact from the cases and expert testimony along with an analysis of how U.S. law and practice does not comply with International Law and Standards on the use of police force against people of African descent. The report concludes with a comprehensive set of recommendations. What is unique about this report, including the voices of families of victims of police violence, is a legal analysis of and a finding that the widespread killings of people of African descent by police amount to Crimes against Humanity.
We are providing this report by the deadline your staff provided to us. We also informed your staff that the report will be finalized over the next few weeks with design and lay-out and we will provide you a copy at that time.
We hope you find the information useful in the preparation of your final report mandated by the Human Rights Council Resolution 43/1.
Very truly yours,
Jeanne Mirer President, IADL
Nana Gyamfi President, NCBL
Pooja Gehi Executive Director, NLG
Cc: Commissioners
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Barbados
Ms. Niloufer Bhagwat, India
Mr. Xolani Maxwell Boqwana, South Africa
Mireille Fanon-Mendès France, France
Dr. Arturo Fournier Facio, Costa Rica
Judge Peter Herbert, UK
Ms. Hina Jilani, Pakistan
Professor Rashida Manjoo, South Africa
Professor Osamu Niikura, Japan
Sir Clare Roberts, Antigua and Barbuda
Mr. Bert Samuels, Jamaica
Mr. Hannibal Uwaifo, Nigeria
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