On September 17th the Main representative of IFOR delivered an oral statement at the 45th session of the Human Rights Council, during the interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on truth and justice and spoke on the reconciliation process, memorialization and non-recurrence referring to systemic racism and the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
In June 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution entitled "The promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and people of African descent," which makes the following request, among others:
"Requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the assistance of relevant Special Mandate Holders, to prepare a report on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent, to contribute to accountability and redress for victims . . . ."
-June 19, 2020 resolution at paragraph 3.-
As a first step, the Center for Jubilee, Reconciliation, and Healing of Coastal Georgia (Jubilee) and the Georgia chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation USA (FOR USA), the USA branch of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), prepared reports. The Jubilee and FOR USA reports were for consideration by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, upon the occasion of the report entitled "Memorialization processes in the context of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law: the fifth pillar of transitional justice" addressing, among other things, transitional justice with respect to past crimes committed "by a repressive regime."
Under the rubric of memorialization, the Jubilee and FOR USA reports describe a Community Remembrance Project, with Equal Justice Initiative of Montgomery, Alabama, to remember all the lynchings in Glynn County, Georgia (where Mr. Arbery was murdered) and, possibly, other nearby counties.
Concerning the guarantee of non-recurrence, the reports describe efforts to abolish citizen's arrest in the State of Georgia and in jurisdictions throughout the United States, including Georgia State Representative Carl Scott Gilliard’s State of Georgia House Bill 1203.
These reports by the Center for Jubilee and FOR USA then became the basis for comments by the IFOR’s Main Representative in Geneva, Ms. Zaira Zafarana, in dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, a transcript of which follows.
Human Rights Council, 45th Session
Geneva, 17th September 2020
Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence
Oral statement delivered by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Vice President,
The International Fellowship of Reconciliation - IFOR thanks the Special Rapporteur for his report and agrees on the “crucial role played by memorialization processes to respond adequately to past crimes and prevent their recurrence.” [1]
One of the key principles of nonviolence is: learn from the past. Reconciliation is based on truth and justice; thus the recognition of human rights violations and the voices of the victims play a key role in the construction of memory.
Transitional justice and memorialization processes can help to understand and assess human rights violations and soothe wounds to heal, foster responsible social dialogue, and reinforce the rule of law. This will also address the underlying roots of the conflict, such as inequalities and discrimination, to prevent the resurgence of violence and to build long-lasting peace.
Enabling society to regain trust and initiating a process of reconciliation need a surgical action on unemployment, distrust, phobia, violence and hatred [that have become endemic].
Systemic racism is sustained by a serious deficiency in the process of memorialization which limits guarantee of non-recurrence.
On June 5, 2020 Georgia State Representatives [2] co-sponsored the ‘Citizens Arrest Repeal Bill’; this 1863 law has allowed U.S. private citizens, [persons who are not law-enforcement officials,] to use this policy to discriminate against African Americans. The murder of Ahmaud Arbery[3] is one case.
IFOR shares the SR’s concern on “a toxic political culture”[4] and welcomes His recommendations to bring about a Culture of Peace.
Thank you.
[1] https://undocs.org/A/HRC/45/45.
[2] Carl Scott Gilliard, Roger Bruce, Don Hogan, William Bodie and Gerald Green.
[3] On February 23rd 2020, in Glynn County, State of Georgia, USA.
You can download the original statement here.
You can watch the recording of the session here. IFOR's statement is at 01:50:21
Case of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law
Ahmaud Arbery was on a jog in the early afternoon of Sunday, February 23, 2020, in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Glynn County, Georgia, USA. Members of the Satilla Shores citizen patrol, including recently retired law enforcement personnel, began pursuing Mr. Arbery with their pickup trucks and guns, including a gun issued by the Glynn County Police Department. Mr. Arbery was chased and terrorized throughout the neighborhood and ultimately shot to death in a public street.
Mr. Arbery was unarmed, wearing a t-shirt and jogging shorts. Glynn County Police Department officers came to the scene of the killing, but no arrests were made. For weeks thereafter, no arrests were made. Eventually, a State of Georgia prosecutor reached back to Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, first enacted in the slavery era soon after President Lincoln had issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, to determine that the Satilla Shores citizen patrol’s killing of Mr. Arbery had been a justifiable homicide.
More info about the research and work on this issue by the USA branch of IFOR is available here.