UN Issues Preliminary Warning to US
The United Nations has issued a preliminary warning to the United States over growing racial tension in the country.
The formal, ‘early warning’, was issued by the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The committee forms part of the UN’s human rights office, and adheres to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which was ratified in the US in 1994.
The warning follows weeks of racial tension across the United States, most notably in the south, where clashes between white supremacist groups and counter-protesters lead to the death of one woman in Charlottesville, Virginia.
White supremacist groups gathered in Charlottesville this week to protest the city’s plan to take down certain Confederate monuments. However, the protest quickly turned violent, and one woman was killed when a white supremacist supporter rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.
US President, Donald Trump, has been criticised for not publicly denouncing white supremacy. This caused tensions to flare once more, and contributed to the UN’s decision to issue the warning.
The UN said that the warning was issued to “prevent existing problems from escalating into conflict” and to “prevent a resumption of conflict where it has previously occurred”.
These warnings are generally issued if the UN and its human rights committee believe civil conflict is imminent. As such, these warnings are rarely issued; in fact this is only seventh warning of its kind that has been issued by the UN over the past ten years.
It is also unusual for a first world country, such as the US, to receive an official warning. Other countries that have received similar warnings include Nigeria, Burundi and Iraq.
Anastasia Crickley, head of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, said in a statement:
“We are alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, promoting white supremacy and inciting racial discrimination and hatred”.
The US government has yet to comment on this warning.
