Mike Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, joined attorneys from RFK Human Rights and the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center to testify at an IACHR hearing on July 10. As St. Louis Public Radio reports, this is the first time the commission has held a hearing about an individual case of police violence in the U.S.

Delia Addo-Yobo, RFK Human Rights staff attorney, commented, “More people were killed by police last year than any other year on record. By taking on Michael’s case, the commission is facilitating new pathways to justice for those impacted by discriminatory and pervasive police violence.”

Wade McMullen, senior vice president of programs and legal strategy, said, “The last decade has proven that our domestic legal structures are insufficient and outdated compared to international human rights standards,” said. “After exhausting every U.S. mechanism for justice, the Brown family is now looking to the IACHR for accountability in the death of their loved one.”