UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet commended the US “new steps” in the field of migration policy, including those aimed at ending the separation of families of migrants and refugees
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Friday welcomed US steps to overcome systemic racism and called on the country’s authorities to eliminate the problem of “mass detention of migrants”.
“We welcome extensive new measures to address structural inequalities and systemic racism in the United States”, – Bachelet said as she presented an overview of the global rights and freedoms situation at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).
“To properly address the issue of systemic inequality and injustice, social and economic rights must be at the center of the response”, – the High Commissioner said.
She positively assessed the “new steps” taken in the US in the field of migration policy, including those aimed at ending the separation of families of migrants and refugees.
“I call for further measures to address remaining issues, such as the mass detention of migrants, through the use of alternatives to such detention”, – Bachelet concluded.
On Friday, UN experts in the field of rights and freedoms issued a joint statement calling on the US government to “end police violence and actively address the issue of systemic racism”.
In this time of political change, the United States must “initiate sweeping reforms to respond to police brutality and systemic racism”, the statement said. This document was signed by 23 UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia Tendaya Achume and his colleague working on the prevention of torture, Nils Melzer.