UN panel slams Denmark over alleged racist attack
Apr 16, 2012, 12:10 PM
Geneva (AP) – A U.N. panel has criticized Denmark for failing to properly investigate a 2004 attack in which 35 youths hurled racist abuse and beat two members of Iraqi refugee family.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination says four men were convicted on counts of violence, vandalism and illegal possession of weapons but Danish police didn’t examine the racist nature of the assault that led the family to flee their home in the eastern town of Soro.
The Geneva-based panel monitors compliance with International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
It issued the rare public rebuke against Denmark in a statement Monday.
The panel says Danish authorities failed to effectively protect the family from racial discrimination and should grant them compensation for their ordeal.
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