As Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has already noted, "the world is watching." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday urged law enforcement officials in Ferguson to abide by "U.S. and international standards in dealing with demonstrations" and called for restraint among protesters and police officers. But last week, the Ferguson protests and heavy police force also coincided with an international review in Geneva, Switzerland, of U.S. progress on implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) treaty.

Trayvon Martin’s parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, originally from East St. Louis, were present. Their son’s name as well as Jordan Davis’ are mentioned in the committee’s post-report synopsis. In addition to Stand Your Ground laws, the full list of concerns raised by international observers make it worth the read.

See too, the Washington Post’s recent rundown of how the rest of the world sees Ferguson.

The U.S. ratified CERD in 1994.