The United States admitted that more needs to be done to uphold its civil rights laws.
James Cadogan, a senior council in the civil division of the Justice Department, told the United Nations Human Rights Council Monday that despite civil rights laws’ progress over the past half century, the U.S. must “rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our civil rights laws live up to their promise.”
His comments come in the wake of the killing of not just Freddie Gray in Baltimore — an unarmed black male that died in the hands of police — but other recent killings as well.
“The tragic deaths of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York, Tamir Rice in Ohio and Walter Scott in South Carolina have … challenged us to do better and to work harder for progress,” he said.
The U.S. is currently undergoing a Universal Periodic Review of its rights record, something all 193 U.N. countries must undergo every four years.
U.S. ambassador to the council Keith Harper and acting U.S. legal adviser Mary McLeod faced a range of questions during the half-day review in Geneva about law enforcement tacts, police brutality and the disproportionate impact on African-Americans and other minorities.
“When federal, state, local or tribal officials willfully use excessive force that violates the US Constitution or federal law, we have authority to prosecute them,” Cadogan said when insisting the U.S. government was focused on bringing abusive police officers to justice.
Over the past six years, criminal charges have been brought against more than 400 law enforcement officers, Cadogan said.
The Justice Department has since launched a civil rights investigation into the Baltimore Police Department. Six police officers have also been charged in Freddie Gray’s arrest and subsequent death.
(h/t AFP)
