A/76/302 the chronic stress of living with daily racism had a demonstrable impact on life expectancy and health and enhanced the distrust of Black Americans for the health care system. These manifestations of structural racism required structural change to address key social determinants of health, in particular access to safe and adequat e housing, gainful employment, quality education, healthy food and health care. 12. The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, spoke on structural racism as a fundamental cause of health disparities. She discussed the particular vulnerability of people of African descent to COVID -19 as a direct outcome of systems anchored in discriminatory practices that systematically distributed resources, power and opportunities along racial lines. Reducing structural health inequities required challenging systemic racism and the unequal distribution of power within society. She emphasized the importance of an intersectional approach to this endeavour. The Special Rapporteur recalled that the human right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health was inextricably linked to other human rights. She also raised specific concerns about the risk of racialized bias in emerging health technologies, highlighted the barriers faced by women of African descent in the enjoyment of their sexual and reproductive health rights and noted the high pollution exposure experienced by many people of African descent worldwide. With respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, she discussed the need for increased and equitable allocation of resources to health systems and States’ obligations to ensure the safety, availability, accessibility and affordability of COVID -19 vaccines and treatments. 13. During the interactive dialogue, Mr. Reid highlighted that the impact of systemic racism on the health situation of people of African descent was historically rooted in the nutrition of and emotional distress experienced by enslaved Africans. In response to a question from a member of the Working Group, Ricardo A. Sunga III, Dr. Blackstock underlined the importance of including vulnerability criteria, such as race and ethnicity, in the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine to ensure its equitable distribution within and among countries. The Special Rapporteur on the right to health expressed concerns about the risk that some States would secure the vaccination for their own citizens, to the detriment of other States, in violation of their international obligations. In response to questions from Mr. Reid and the representative of Brazil on data collection, Dr. Blackstock affirmed that race should be systematically included in data collection on health. The Special Rapporteur added that data disaggregated by race were essential to inform health poli cies and financing. In response to a question from a member of the Working Group, Sabelo Gumedze, the Special Rapporteur recalled that travel restrictions and border controls should be free from racism and racial discrimination, in accordance with internat ional human rights law. 14. The second panel focused on systemic racism and police violence. A researcher at Forensic Architecture, Imani Jacqueline Brown, presented the entity’s findings on police brutality against Black Lives Matter protests in the Unite d States. Between May and December 2020, over 1,000 incidents of violence and misconduct directed against Black Lives Matter activists by law enforcement agents were documented. She stressed that this oppressive response constituted a systemic and widespre ad pattern of behaviour that violated international basic principles and norms. She elaborated on the role of law enforcement and judicial institutions in perpetuating a culture of impunity and on the lack of accountability that made it impossible for victims to seek redress. She recommended that Member States take measures to cease the use of so-called less-than-lethal riot arms and called for the United States to commit to reparations for the legacy of racist oppression. 21-11641 5/22