UN experts point to « systematic racism » against people of African descent in Belgium
The UN team – in full the Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement – has visited various places in Belgium since 2 June. The cities of Brussels, Antwerp, Charleroi, Namur and Mechelen are affected. Among other things, there was talk with representatives of various governments, mayors, police services and human rights institutions.
« Systematic racism is present in Belgium, just like in other countries, » concludes the Costa Ricaan Victor Rodriguez, one of the UN experts, when completing that visit. « That requires structural answers. »
Among other things, a strict look looks at the way in which Belgium deals with its colonial legacy. Although in the meantime people are already more critical of monuments, street names and other things that refer to the colonial period, even more efforts are needed to recognize the mistakes of the past. « Belgium must continue to take concrete steps in the direction of recovery and justice, with effective involvement of the affected communities, » says the American UN expert Tracie Keesee.
Racial profiling
The recommendations of the UN experts are very wide. This is also referred to as shortcomings in the structures and powers of human rights institutions and inadequate data. There must also be « as quickly as possible » a national action plan against racism. In addition, the overpopulation in prisons, where people of African descent are over -represented.
The experts also point to ‘racial profiling’ and the use of sometimes excessive violence by police services. They emphasize that these practices harm confidence in the order services, which also increases the threshold to report violence.
Although the experts also see a lot of good points. Among other things, the fact that an external watchdog monitors the functioning of the police services (Committee P) and the financial support for NGOs that fight racism are seen as examples for other countries.
The mandate of the UN experts limited themselves to racism and discrimination against Africans and people of African descent. « They already carry a long history in that area, » says Keesee. « But we believe that our recommendations and requested corrections also benefit other communities that are confronted with racism. »
The final final report with findings and recommendations will be presented in September for the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
UN expert group also calls for measures against systemic racism with Belgian police
The United Nations Experts Group has also sued the presence of systematic racism against people of African descent to the Belgian police on Wednesday. According to them, systematic racism leads to less confidence in the order services. They therefore call on Belgium to take urgent measures.
During the ten -day visit to Belgium, the expert group spoke with a number of witnesses of racism. « Those incidents clearly show that there is systematic racism present against the African community and that has a major impact on confidence in institutions that maintain the law, » says Victor Rodriguez.
According to them, among other things, ethnic profiling among the police contributes to distrust of people from the African community. People of African descent are controlled more often and also have more to do with police violence. According to the research, that violence sometimes focuses not only against adults but also against children. Children with a migration background, and especially boys of African descent, are often seen by the police as adults and therefore also treated. Last week a boy of eleven died after a police pursuit.
But the experts also show understanding for the challenging and stressful situations in which police officers have to work and which they think can have an impact on the physical and mental well -being of agents. That is why they argue for better support groups and resources for the mental health of police officers.
The investigation shows that the lack of trust and contact between the police and the local communities in particular causes problems. « Brussels agents often come from small villages and therefore have little feeling for the Brussels communities and what is going on in the city. That leads to incomprehension, » explains Tracie Kese. They therefore recommend better informing agents about the problems that people of African descent have to deal with and to let the agents talk to the local communities. According to them, the representation of people of African descent to the police is also important to restore confidence.
Finally, the expert group also argues for a mandatory and systematic use of bodycams by police officers, to better control possible facts from excessive police violence. The bodycam also protects the agents themselves, emphasize the experts.
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