UN session sees rare focus on racism in US

Top human rights body in Geneva holds urgent debate on police brutality

GENEVA－A brother of George Floyd made a heartfelt plea on Wednesday to the United Nations' top human rights body, urging it to launch intense international scrutiny of systemic racism, the killing of black people by police and violence against peaceful protesters in the United States.

Philonese Floyd, in a video message to the UN Human Rights Council, backed a call by dozens of African countries hoping to create a Commission of Inquiry－the council's most powerful tool of scrutiny－to report on racism and violence against protesters by police in the US.

The unprecedented effort to train a potentially uncomfortable spotlight on the US, which calls itself the world's "leading advocate" for human rights, came as it has no voice in the room: The administration of US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 47-member body two years ago.