Currently, in the Human Rights Council, delegates are discussing Topic 2 “Combatting police brutality through improved training frameworks and guidelines for law enforcement officers''. This has seen to be a pressing issue that delegates are immensely gripped on to addressing! The different outlooks on how to potentially combat the very present-day issue has led to some very captivating discussions and raising individual as well as friendly amendments.
The delegate of China had raised an amendment consisting of 8 clauses elucidating some very important points. For instance, some of the most important clauses that the delegate touched upon was clause 3 “Police training and education aims to reduce the existing biases in the system and improve overall officers lookouts” and clause 8 that Sets the ground for future improvements.
The delegate of China also mentioned that clause 4 “further restricts police officers freedoms by allowing only senior officers to handle dangerous weapons, thus lowering the chances of accidental misfiring and unreasonable disputes as is often with younger, less experienced officers”. Conversely, the delegate of Sweden voiced an important consideration in the POI, that the delegate of China was open for. The delegate questioned “Are you aware that the officer in charge for the killing of George Floyd had 19 years of experience and if so, what should be the definition of a senior officer?” China responded with “While it is true that the officer that killed George Floyd was in fact a senior officer, that is why the rest of the resolution exists.” She continued with her claim by reinforcing clause 3 in her amendment, that targets police training and education. Nevertheless, the amendment was passed as there was an overwhelming majority of supporters.
Along with the amendment raised by China, there was a resolution proposed by the delegate of the United States of America, China, Iceland, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Norway that approached the ideas of more funding for the government and other countries that need it in order to instill their police officers upon ethics and morals. Some of the other overriding ideas mentioned in their resolution talked about recruiting a more diverse officer team, installing or improving a full system of verbal communications and warnings used before applying any necessary force and implementing repercussions for any form of police brutality. This resolution unfortunately was not passed.
Looking forward to seeing more engaging, fruitful debates regarding this topic!