By Joyce Ojanji
To eliminate all forms of racial discrimination, inequality and stratification at both domestic and international levels, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) should consider the proclamation of the second International Decade for People of African Descent for the period 2025-2034, human rights experts say.
This is with a view to taking further action to address systemic discrimination and legacies of the past to bring about full recognition, justice, and development for people of African descent worldwide.
In a joint statement issued during the International Day for People of African Descent in Geneva, the experts said achieving this goal means that inequalities within and among countries will need to be drastically decreased, and the legacies of colonialism, apartheid, enslavement and genocide effectively resolved.
“UN Decade, together with the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, have contributed significantly to combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance. However, there is much more work to be done and the momentum gained must be sustained,” they said.
They urged the General Assembly to consider proclaiming a second International Decade for People of African Descent from 2025 to 2034, “with a view to taking further action to address systemic discrimination and legacies of the past to bring about the full recognition, justice, and development for people of African descent worldwide.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the enormous impact that both the African continent and people of African descent have had on the development, diversity and richness of world civilizations and cultures, which constitute the common heritage of humankind.
He noted that recent years have seen renewed momentum for change, based on the global anti-racism movement of 2020. Millions of people took to the streets of major cities worldwide following the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man, that May.
“Today, as we mark the International Day for People of African Descent, I reiterate the call of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to use the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to announce and take prompt and robust steps to advance equality and combat racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia,” he added.
The UN chief urged countries to take concrete steps, with the full participation of people of African descent and their communities, to tackle old and new forms of racial discrimination; and to dismantle entrenched structural and institutional racism.
“Today and every day, we must continue to speak out against all ideas of racial superiority, and work tirelessly to free all societies from the blight of racism,” he said.
The Secretary-General has also made anti-racism a management priority at the UN, where he has appointed a Special Adviser and team charged with overseeing the implementation of a Strategic Action Plan on Addressing Racism and Promoting Dignity for All.
