Ferguson and Human Rights
The incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, from Michael Brown’s shooting to the police violence that has followed, are increasingly being seen as human rights issues. Late last week, Amnesty International U.S.A. dispatched, for the first time in the organization’s history, human rights monitors within the United States. Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of Amnesty USA, is among the monitors, and compares the situation unfavorably to other human rights crises around the world where governments violently curbed civil liberties. Given U.S. policies of exceptionalism over the years, it is hardly surprising that other countries such as Egypt, Russia and China have been quick to criticize the U.S. over its failure to honor human rights of assembly and free speech in Ferguson.
The complicating factor of federalism hangs over this incident. Though the federal government is involved in the investigation of Brown’s death, the active law enforcement presence in Ferguson is local and state operated. And though the Pentagon apparently made available military-type equipment to the local force, there was no parallel effort to offer training to local law enforcement from a human rights perspective. And though the United States was only just reviewed by the UN CERD Committee last week for its compliance with the Race Convention, that review was largely a federal affair that hardly registered in most states and localities around the country.
To be effective, respect for human rights must be inculcated at every level of government. There will be many lessons drawn from this tragic situation over the coming days. One of those lessons should be the importance of establishing federal-local partnerships to promote human rights education, awareness and baselines before the next crisis hits.