United Nations, December 5 (RHC)-- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the United States to make the police more accountable, amid a spate of police killings of African Americans across the country. "We are obviously aware of what is going on here in our backyard," UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, a day after a grand jury failed to indict a white New York police officer accused of killing a Black man by putting him in an illegal chokehold.

Dujarric said the UN chief's thoughts are with the families of Garner and the people of New York who held protests in the city on Wednesday night after the Staten Island grand jury cleared white police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July chokehold death of Eric Garner.

"The case is again focusing on the issue of accountability of law enforcement officials," said Dujarric. "The secretary-general urges all competent authorities in the United States to do everything possible to respond to the demands for greater accountability."