U.N. Rights Chief Warns U.S. on Police Racism

The U.N. on Tuesday urged the United States to investigate racial discrimination within its law enforcement and judicial systems, after a white officer who killed an unarmed black teen walked free.

"I am deeply concerned at the disproportionate number of young African Americans who die in encounters with police officers, as well as the disproportionate number of African Americans in U.S. prisons and the disproportionate number of African Americans on Death Row," U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement.

His comment came after a grand jury decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri in August.

Zeid said he had not seen the details of the evidence laid before the grand jury, and that he could therefore not comment on the verdict, which sparked riots and violence in Ferguson and protests across the country.

Zeid echoed Michael Brown's parents' call for calm, urging "all protesters to avoid violence and destruction in the wake of this decision."

He stressed though that "at least among some sectors of the population, there is a deep and festering lack of confidence in the fairness of the justice and law enforcement systems."

"I urge the U.S. authorities to conduct in-depth examinations into how race related issues are affecting law enforcement and the administration of justice, both at the federal and state levels," he said.

Zeid pointing out that "concerns about institutionalized discrimination in the U.S." had repeatedly been raised by various U.N. bodies.

Just two weeks ago, the issue was raised during a review of the U.S. record before the U.N. anti-torture watchdog in Geneva, which Michael Brown's parents attended.

"Mr. Brown's parents' tremendous dignity and deep anguish for their lost son profoundly impressed everyone they met when they were here in Geneva, and have once again been demonstrated, despite their evident disappointment, by their call for protests to remain peaceful," Zeid said.

The U.N. rights chief also referred to the Cleveland police killing at the weekend of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was waving around what turned out to be a toy gun in a playground.

"In many countries, where real guns are not so easily available, police tend to view boys playing with replica guns as precisely what they are, rather than as a danger to be neutralized," Zeid said.