Fighting and preventing excessive and unjustified use of force by the law enforcement officers

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 15137 | 10 September 2020

Signatories:

Mr Oleksandr MEREZHKO, Ukraine, SOC ; Ms Thorhildur Sunna ÆVARSDÓTTIR, Iceland, SOC ; Ms Luise AMTSBERG, Germany, SOC ; Ms Sibel ARSLAN, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Pedro BACELAR DE VASCONCELOS, Portugal, SOC ; Ms Petra BAYR, Austria, SOC ; Ms Maryvonne BLONDIN, France, SOC ; Ms Margreet De BOER, Netherlands, SOC ; Mr Algirdas BUTKEVIČIUS, Lithuania, SOC ; Ms Laura CASTEL, Spain, NR ; Mr Ahmet Ünal ÇEVİKÖZ, Turkey, SOC ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Jeremy CORBYN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Yunus EMRE, Turkey, SOC ; Ms Edite ESTRELA, Portugal, SOC ; Ms Marija GOLUBEVA, Latvia, ALDE ; Lord Leslie GRIFFITHS, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Josip JURATOVIC, Germany, SOC ; Mr Haluk KOÇ, Turkey, SOC ; Mr Christophe LACROIX, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Luís LEITE RAMOS, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Ms Inese LĪBIŅA-EGNERE, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Ms Yuliya LOVOCHKINA, Ukraine, SOC ; Mr Kęstutis MASIULIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Ola MÖLLER, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Giuseppe Maria MORGANTI, San Marino, SOC ; Mr Simon MOUTQUIN, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Josephine ORTLEB, Germany, SOC ; Ms Kate OSAMOR, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr George PAPANDREOU, Greece, SOC ; Mr Paulo PISCO, Portugal, SOC ; Ms Dana REIZNIECE-OZOLA, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Ms Isabel RODRIGUES, Portugal, SOC ; Ms Tabea RÖSSNER, Germany, SOC ; Ms Selin SAYEK BÖKE, Turkey, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Frank SCHWABE, Germany, SOC ; Mr Andrzej SZEJNA, Poland, SOC ; Mr André VALLINI, France, SOC ; Mr Krum ZARKOV, Bulgaria, SOC ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

One of the most pressing problems of human rights protection is police violence and discrimination. These serious human rights violations have recently been brought into the limelight by the Black Lives Matter movement and they have been left unattended by the international community for too long. It is high time for the Parliamentary Assembly to look into the feasibility of drafting an international binding instrument which addresses the excessive and unjustified use of force by police (police brutality), violations of basic human rights by the police (including right to peaceful assembly), instances of race and ethnic profiling and other common forms of human rights violations committed by police forces in member States.

The Assembly should compile a report that explores existing soft law and the well established case law of the European Court of Human Rights to develop standards of the use of force by law enforcement officers. Important principles such as necessity, proportionality, justice and non-discrimination should guide the work of the Assembly on this vital and current issue. Furthermore, the report should suggest possible pathways for the member States to commit themselves in a legally binding convention to combat police brutality. Such a convention should include obligations to conduct effective investigations into reports of police brutality and it should provide for an international supervisory mechanism. Moreover, the convention should focus on the fundamental criteria of training and education of law enforcement officers and for redress and justice for the victims of police brutality.