UN Declares Permanent Forum of People of African Descent

UN Declares Permanent Forum of People of African Descent

People of African descent now have the support of the United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, which will “seek to advance the full political, economic and social inclusion of people of African descent in the societies in which they live – as equal citizens without discrimination and with equal enjoyment of human rights”.

The formation of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, announced last week, will comprise five members selected by governments and another five members appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. The period 2015-2024 has been declared the International Decade for People of African Descent and carries the theme: recognition, justice and development. That is paired with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development, adopted by the UN General Assembly, based on equality and human rights. ACS Founding Observer, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) says, “both offer a unique opportunity to make concrete changes in the daily lives of millions of Afro-descendants.”

Costa Rica’s Vice President Epsy Campbell Barr says of the development: “These are years of struggle and this is a very important space for the recognition of the rights of people of African descent throughout the world. A right that implies giving life to the commitments of the decade: recognition justice and development.”

The ACS has always recognised and acknowledged the worth and contributions of people of African descent in the Greater Caribbean. In the 2019 Declaration of Managua, the ACS declared its support for “the 10-point Action Plan of the Reparations Commission of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and applauds this Commission’s efforts to correct injustices resulting from the genocide of the native people of the Caribbean and the Transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and slavery, which are counted amongst the most atrocious crimes against humanity, and reaffirming, in turn, the urgent need to request efficient measures for reparation, compensation, indemnification or other in kind measures at a national, regional and international level."

The World Bank estimated in 2006, that there are some 130 million African descendants in Latin America, making Afro-descendants the largest marginalised racial group in the Americas. According There are approximately 13 million people of African descent in the CARICOM grouping of the ACS.