WASHINGTON, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - The current situation in Ferguson as well as in other American communities of color, is a human rights crisis condemned by the international community, Ejim Dike, Executive Director of the US Human Rights Network, told RIA Novosti.
"What's happening in Ferguson and in communities of color across the country is a human rights crisis," Dike stated, adding that it is the crisis the international community has come out against as demonstrated by last week's United Nation's review of racial discrimination in the United States.
The situation in Ferguson has once again brought up the issues of racial discrimination, human rights violations as well as the increased militarization of law enforcement.
"The system, entrusted to serve and protect Michael Brown and the people of Ferguson, has instead become an instrument of violence, oppression, and injustice," Dike said. "The alarming level of aggression being directed at ordinary civilians who are expressing their human and constitutional rights to protest is reminiscent of Jim Crow Era policing."
"We must continue to speak out against all forms of human rights abuse and hold the government accountable - at every level - for respecting and protecting the same fundamental rights that it is so often demands of others," Dike concluded.
Ferguson, Mo., has witnessed more than a week of often violent demonstrations. The protests were touched off by the shooting of an unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown by the police officer. Missouri National Guard troops were deployed on Monday to staunch the violence and restore an order. However, on Thursday Gov. Jay Nixon ordered it to begin withdrawing.
