The United Nations Human Rights Council assembly room.  Photo: AFP

The 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday passed a resolution jointly made by African countries on tackling systemic race discrimination. The resolution condemns all kinds of race discrimination and law-enforcement officers' violence on Africans and people of African descent. This is the first time for the UN human rights body to adopt such a resolution after the death of George Floyd in May 2020. 

The adopted resolution reviewed the murder of Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the US, and pointed out that it raised people's attention on systemic and structural discrimination. This has prompted the US and the world to solve the problem. The resolution also noted that the transatlantic slave trade is the main root and manifestation of race discrimination.

Africans and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian descent, and indigenous people are currently still the victims of discrimination, according to the resolution. 

It requires the Human Rights Council to set an international independent expert mechanism to promote justice and equality, remove the negative influence of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade, hold those who committed these crimes accountable and offer compensations to victims. The mechanism should report to the Council every year. 

Jiang Duan, minister of the Chinese mission to the UN in Geneva, said in a speech on Tuesday that the tragedy of Floyd showed the urgency and importance to crack down on systemic discrimination in the US and around the world. The resolution has offered a procedure in protecting human rights.

Countries that have serious race discrimination and those who were engaged in and benefited from slave trade and colonialism should take responsibility for their historical crimes with courage and make concrete measures to solve the current problems. They should not let the tragedy of Floyd and other victims be repeated, said Jiang. 

African countries and countries in other regions also called for the international community to take revolutionary actions to crack down on discrimination and police violence.