A young protester holds onto a picture of George Floyd as she looks through the bars of a barrier at a gathering in support of the Black Lives Matter and Black Voices Matter movements in central Leeds in northern England on June 14, 2020, in the aftermath of the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody in the US. (OLI SCARFF / AFP)

GENEVA - The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday condemned discriminatory and violent policing that led to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month and ordered a report be drawn up on "systemic racism" against people of African descent.

The 47-member state forum in Geneva unanimously adopted a resolution, brought by African countries, that gives the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet a mandate to report back its findings in a year's time.

Philonise Floyd, the brother of the Black man whose death under the knee of a white officer roused world protests against racial injustice, urged the forum on Wednesday to investigate US police brutality and racial discrimination.

It is important to show Africa...the Human Rights Council has heard the plight of African and people of African descent calling for equal treatment and application of equal rights for all.

Dieudonné W. Désiré Sougouri, Burkina Faso's Ambassador 

Burkina Faso's Ambassador Dieudonné W. Désiré Sougouri presented the African resolution on Friday, urging its adoption by consensus.

"It is important to show Africa...the Human Rights Council has heard the plight of African and people of African descent calling for equal treatment and application of equal rights for all," he said.

The Africa group had made numerous "concessions" in the negotiations with other countries, he added.

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Senegal's envoy Coly Seck, a former council president, welcomed the consensus, telling the talks: "Black Lives Matter".

The text was watered down during closed-door negotiations from an initial draft explicitly calling for a UN commission of inquiry on racism in the United States and elsewhere.

"It is absurd that the final resolution passed by the United Nations strips mention of the United States, where police kill people, particularly Black people, at alarmingly higher rates compared to other developed countries," said Jamil Dakwar of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which led 600 activist groups in calling for the urgent debate.

"The United Nations needs to do its job — not get bullied out of doing it — and hold the United States accountable," he said in a statement.

The Trump administration, which quit the forum two years ago alleging bias against its ally Israel, made no immediate comment. US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Andrew Bremberg said on Wednesday that his country was "not above scrutiny" as it grappled with racial discrimination but was implementing police reforms after Floyd's killing.

During the debate, Western delegations including Australia, Germany, Italy, Poland and the European Union said that the United States should not be singled out.

"This problem does not belong to any one country, it is a problem around the world," said Australian ambassador Sally Mansfield.

Activists said that Australia had been particularly active in negotiations to take the spotlight off the United States.

Germany's ambassador Michael Ungern-Sternberg said: "We are convinced a report with a broader approach and less focus on one

specific case would have been more appropriate".