While the U.S. justice system is still contemplating a verdict after Michael Brown was shot to death by a Ferguson, Mo., policeman, Brown's parents have decided to travel halfway across the world to speak at a United Nations conference in Geneva, Switzerland, next week, according to a website called Ferguson to Geneva. The trip comes as a St. Louis County grand jury prepares to conclude its inquiry into the Aug. 9 shooting.
Along with supporters, Brown's family likely hopes to receive justice at the United Nations' Committee Against Torture, a convention typically reserved for charges against terrorists, despots and genocidal tyrants, by demanding the immediate arrest of Officer Darren Wilson, the Associated Press reported.
On Nov. 12 and 13, Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden are scheduled to address the 53rd Session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva. Currently, funds are being collected through online donations by a Saint Louis University professor in order to cover the couple's travel expenses.
"Our goal is not only to achieve justice in Ferguson, but to unite governments around the world against the human rights violations that result from racial profiling and police violence," the website states about the trip.
In August, Michael Brown was fatally shot by a suburban St. Louis police officer in Ferguson. The 18-year-old's case garnered global attention and has become a subject of intense speculation.
In a 13-page statement against the U.S. Department of Justice, professor Justin Hansford specifically issues complaints about the police leaving Brown's uncovered body in the middle of the street, racial profiling, militarization of police departments, treatment of protesters following Brown's death, and a lack of diversity in Ferguson police officers, St. Louis Public Radio reported
Further, Hansford calls for the immediate arrest of Wilson, demands an apology from Gov. Jay Nixon for treatment of protesters, asks for installation of "front facing" cameras at all police departments and demands the police commissioner be fired.
"Not surprisingly, nothing in the complaint mentions culpability by Michael Brown in the clash and uses selective eyewitness accounts," according to Independent Journal Review. It also "refers to Officer Wilson as a 'killer' who 'remains at large' and who belongs to a police force that used 'indiscriminate' and 'disproportionate' responses against protesters."
Brown's parents are expected to leave for Switzerland on Nov. 10, family attorney Anthony Gray told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
