By Faith Nyasuguta
The United Nations General Assembly has formulated a new platform to boost the lives of Afro-descendants who have for years faced racism, racial discrimination, and enslavement.
The resolution made after years of deliberations was unanimously adopted by a 193 member body.
The assembly will therefore establish a 10 member United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent set to work closely with the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
The new forum is set to serve as a consultation mechanism for those of African descent among other stakeholders and contribute to the explanation of a UN declaration – a “first step towards a legally binding instrument” on the promotion and full respect of the rights of people of African descent.
It will also provide expert advice and recommendations to the Human Rights Council, the Assembly’s main committees among other UN entities working on any issue related to racial discrimination.
‘Growing inequalities’
Since November 2014, negotiations on the methods of the Permanent Forum have been ongoing.
In late 2014, the General Assembly officially launched the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).
The assembly on Monday showed concern over the spread of racist extremist movements globally and decried the “ongoing and resurgent scourges” of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and such related intolerance.
The move by the assembly comes few days after The Human Rights Council formulated an expert panel to probe systemic racism in policing against people of African descent.
The panel formulation was prompted by the recent police killing of George Floyd by a police officer and the release of a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),
In the report and other public statements, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet points out the “compounding inequalities” and “stark socioeconomic and political marginalization” faced by Africans and people of African descent in many nations.
The report also depicted that “no State has comprehensively accounted for the past or for the current impact of systemic racism”.
It thus calls for a transformative agenda to address violence against Afro-descendants.
