Good day all,

On Wednesday 1st April 2020, two prominent French doctors in charge of coronavirus emergency and research units proposed on a major French TV channel that the coronavirus vaccine should be tested in Africa “where there is no mask, no treatment and no intensive care, just like tests that carried out on prostitutes for AIDS research.” These racist and inhuman statements that liken Africans to lab rats, and which also carry a heavy medical genocide undertone, have sent shock waves around the world.

The doctors Dr. Jean-Paul Mira, Head of the Intensive Care Unit at Cochin Hospital in Paris (one of the largest and most important public hospitals in France); and Dr Camille Locht, Research Director of INSERM in Lille (France’s only state-owned institute of scientific, disease and public health research) who both have PhDs, are highly placed authoritative medical figures in France. Below is the English translation of their exact words.

DR JEAN-PAUL MIRA: “If I want to be provocative, shouldn’t we do this research test in Africa where there is no mask, no treatment and no intensive care, a just like it’s done in certain studies for AIDS where we test things on (African) prostitutes because we know that they’re highly exposed and not protected. What do you think?”

DR CAMILLE LOCHT: “You’re right, and actually we’re in the process of thinking of a parallel study in Africa precisely, to have the same type of approach for the BCG and placebo.”

WHAT CAN BE INTERPRETED FROM THIS?

The blatant racism and inhumanity towards Africans displayed by these two doctors (or rather potential assassins) is beyond appalling. To watch their casual denigration of Africans is traumatizing; and to witness their display of profound racism and ignorance is shocking. Their arrogant proposal of a scientific experiment on living humans that could potentially cause medical genocide in Africa is a crime against humanity. And their guts in expressing these thoughts publicly on live television watched by millions of people is the height of white supremacy. One can only wonder about their words and actions and those of their institutions when there are no cameras. It’s unbelievable that in 2020 black bodies are still considered as objects to be used and abused for the benefit of the West just like in the times of chattel slavery.

As expected, this has caused a storm on social media where the video has been circulated thousands of times on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And unsurprisingly, there has been no concerted effort to unequivocally apologize and denounce these statements by the doctors, their institutions and the French government for whom they work.

The research institute INSERM attempted a mediocre effort more than 24 hours afterwards by publishing an outrageous post on Twitter first calling the video “Fake News” and then claiming that Dr Camille Locht didn’t have enough time to properly express himself during the programme, both blatant fabrications that have caused further outrage.

The Director of the body that governs Paris Hospitals (AP-HP), Martin Hirsch who claims to have been shocked by the doctors’ statements put out an even more pathetic half-apology 48 hours later that in part read “... we take note of these regrets and condemn any position that, rightly or wrongly, could be interpreted as pejorative vis-à-vis African countries.” This attempt by such an authoritative figure, to intentionally dilute glaring racism and rationalize potential medical genocide is very worrisome.

On his part, Dr Mira followed up his scandalous TV statements on Twitter where he further insulted Africans by likening all Africans to “morons” who spend their time harming each other. He has since deleted his Twitter account claiming that he received death threats after the broadcast.

The French TV channel LCI, which televised this programme without the decency of cutting the racist doctors off, has remained silent after deleting the video from their website and social media accounts. And none of the French mainstream media is reporting this incident with the tone that matches the gravity of the offensive verbal assault.

WHAT DO WE DEMAND FROM THOSE RESPONSIBLE?

1. We’re demanding that the French government through the French Minister of Health publicly CONDEMN these statements and affirm to all Africans that NO MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS will be conducted on Africans by France.

2. We’re demanding that the institutions which Prof. Jean-Paul Mira and Prof. Camille Locht work for (INSERM, Hopital Cochin and AP-HP) clearly and unequivocally CONDEMN these racist statements made by their representatives in very strong terms and APOLOGIZE to all Africans; and to SANCTION Pr. Jean-Paul Mira and Pr. Camille Locht.

3. We’re demanding that Dr. Jean-Paul Mira and Dr Camille Locht clearly and unequivocally APOLOGIZE to Africa’s 1.3 billion people for considering them as non-humans and laboratory guinea pigs, and for their racist verbal assault.

4. We’re demanding that the French TV channel LCI APOLOGIZE to Africans for airing these statements on their channel, and for not taking the appropriate action of ending the program upon these racist statements.

5. We’re demanding all African governments and the African Union to clearly and publicly CONDEMN these statements and STOP any planned medical experiments being planned on Africans by France.

6. We’re demanding that the World Health Organization, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and all other international bodies who cite themselves as defenders of human rights and territorial integrity clearly and unequivocally CONDEMN these statements and any medical experiment programs that France plans to conduct in Africa.

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION AND HELP US REACH ENOUGH SIGNATURES TO ENABLE US PRESSURE THE FRENCH PRESIDENT, AFRICAN HEADS OF STATE, AFRICAN UNION, UN, WHO AND HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH IN STOPPING ALL COVID-19 AND OTHER MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS IN AFRICA. THANK YOU.