A/HRC/48/78
the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act
(H.R.40),7 a bill on reparations currently under examination in the United States. The
Working Group, inter alia, welcomed the hearings held by the House Judiciary Committee
on the bill, and the broad base of support for the bill within the United States Congress. The
Working Group emphasized the importance of reparations and how the bill can play an
important role in understanding, acknowledging, addressing and ultimately dismantling
systemic racism in the United States and promoting racial equity.
16.
Throughout the current year, the Working Group has actively assisted the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in preparing a report
on systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people
of African descent by law enforcement agencies, in accordance with Human Rights Council
resolution 43/1. The Working Group’s analysis is reflected in the final report (A/HRC/47/53),
which also builds on the work of the Working Group and its many reports and
recommendations on this subject. The Chair of the Working Group also participated in the
OHCHR #FIGHTracism campaign,8 featuring in videos and feature stories.
17.
The Working Group continued to advocate for the implementation of the programme
of activities for the International Decade for People of African Descent and protection of the
human rights of people of African descent. It actively participated in several consultations
for the establishment of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent.
18.
During the period under review, the Working Group contributed to many virtual
events and webinars on the issue of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance. In that time, the Chair of the Working Group participated in, inter alia, a seminar
of the Working Group on the theme “Advancements and challenges 20 years after Durban”
(14 October 2020); the seminar “COVID-19 and its impact on women of African descent”,
hosted by the non-governmental organization Afroresistance (28 October); a discussion on
“Preventing and addressing racism: a core issue of corporate human rights due diligence”,
held by the Forum on Business and Human Rights on 17 November; a workshop on the theme
“Environmental racism”, held in the framework of the Geneva Dialogues (17 December); in
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) masterclass
against racism and discrimination, organized under the Slave Route Project (29 January
2021); in the special event entitled “Equal Justice for All”, organized by the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) (9 March); in the event organized to mark the
International Day against Racism entitled “Mid-term Review of the International Decade for
People of African Descent and COVID-19” (11 March); in a meeting of the Commission on
Narcotic Drugs (13 April); in the roundtable on “Anti-Racism: Avenues for active UN
engagement”, organized by the Permanent Mission of Germany (21 April); in an event on
children’s rights, organized by Afroresistance (4 June); and in an event hosted by the Council
for World Mission and the World Council of Churches to discuss antiracist action (21 June).
She also participated in a symposium organized by the International Bar Association entitled
“United Nations Human Rights Council Emergency Session on Systemic Racism in
Review”. In follow-up to the Working Group’s country visit to Peru, the Chair participated,
on 23 June, in an international Forum to launch the first national action plan on business and
human rights organized by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Peru, and on 25 June,
in a panel discussion on the theme “The rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in
the public policy of Responsible Business Conduct”, moderated by the Director of Policies
for the Afro-Peruvian Population Ministry of Culture. She also spoke at several university
and education-based events, including in the event “Racial Inequality in Higher Education:
A Transatlantic Conversation”; and gave a number of media interviews, including to the BBC
and Al Jazeera plus.
19.
A member of the Working Group, Ahmed Reid, participated in several events,
including one organized by the European Parliament on the theme “Recognizing the past,
repairing the present and building the future”, on 2 December 2020, as part of the inaugural
commemoration of the European Day for the Abolition of the Slave Trade; on 4 March 2021,
in an event on Marcus Garvey’s 1920 Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the
7
8
4
See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27325&LangID=E.
See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/Pages/Implementation-HRC-Resolution-43-1.aspx.