Michael Brown's parents spoke to a U.N. committee on Tuesday calling for international attention to the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, where their teenage son was shot and killed by a police officer in August.

"We need the world to know what's going on in Ferguson and we need justice," Lesley McSpadden told CNN from Geneva, Switzerland, where she and Brown's father Michael Brown Sr. addressed the U.N. Committee Against Torture.

"We need answers and we need action. And we have to bring it to the U.N. so they can expose it to the rest of the world, what's going on in small-town Ferguson," the grieving mother said. 

The parents' testimony, which was closed to the public, comes as the nation waits with bated breath for a grand jury to decide this month if officer Darren Wilson should be charged with slaying the unarmed 18-year-old. 

"It's a situation where I'm surprised we haven't even lost our mind yet over this," the victim's father told CNN, describing what life is like since his son was killed Aug. 9.

"But we're being strong. Hopefully, justice will prevail," Brown Sr. said.

The U.S. Human Rights Network, which organized the trip for Brown's parents, said McSpadden and Brown Sr. have also submitted a statement asking the U.N. committee to call for Wilson's immediate arrest.

The statement also demands an end to "racial profiling and racially-biased police harassment across the jurisdictions surrounding Ferguson," CNN reported.

Conditions in Ferguson quickly deteriorated after the unarmed black teenager was shot six times before he died in the street. His death was followed by weeks of riots and protests, the likes of which Missouri and St. Louis officials are bracing themselves for again if the officer is not charged.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said thousands of officers from multiple law enforcement agencies will be on standby.