The current crisis in the United States negates Washington’s claim to moral leadership in the field of human rights, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, said on Thursday.
“Excessive use of force by the US police is an alarming indicator, highlighting systemic failures in ensuring the constitutional rights of American citizens. Police allegations of racism, excessive use of force are regularly heard in local and foreign media. As it is known, in most cases, violence by law enforcement officers in the United States is directed towards African Americans, such as George Floyd, who do not know that there are official statistics on violations nationwide, including murders committed by law enforcement officers on a national scale”, – Lukashevich said at the online meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.
The Permanent Representative pointed out that according to the human rights website KilledbyPolice.net, in 2015 in the USA, police killed 994 people, in 2016 – 962, in 2017 – 986, in 2018 – 992, in 2019 – 1004, and in the first five months of the current year – already about 400 people. At the same time, human rights defenders state that police violence and the impunity of its employees are aggravated by prejudice against members of racial and ethnic minorities. The discrimination of African Americans in the social and economic spheres is also flourishing, Lukashevich noted.
“The current crisis has only once again exposed these and other flaws in American society. But the establishment preferred either to either keep silent in a politically correct way, or shift its own miscalculations to others, including blaming some external ill-wishers. All this negates Washington’s claims on moral leadership and mentoring in the human rights sphere. We should focus on our own problems”, – the permanent representative concluded.
A wave of protests and riots swept through the cities of the United States after the death in Minneapolis at the hands of the African American police George Floyd. Videos appeared on the Internet in which the police handcuffed Floyd, knocked him down and fell on him three, one of them stepping on his neck with his knee. Floyd on the video several times said that he couldn’t breathe, then calmed down. He died in intensive care. After the riots started, four policemen were fired, and one of them was charged with murder.