A/HRC/54/71
discrimination, barriers to the right to health and due process, and enforced disappearances,
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It has also drawn
attention to the issues of enslavement and the auctioning of enslaved African migrants, forced
removals of children from their parents, extrajudicial killings of children during anti-drug
operations, environmental racism, reprisals against human rights defenders, attacks against
leaders and communities of people of African descent, racial discrimination, xenophobia,
forced eviction and the disproportionate targeting of Africans and people of African descent
by State and private actors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.
16.
The Working Group has followed several emblematic cases with relevance to its
mandate and has submitted or petitioned to submit amicus curiae or e xpert briefs for
consideration by courts. 15 For example, on 19 November 2019, the Working Group filed
an amicus curiae brief with a family court in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the case
involving Jude Kasangaki, Anita Mavita and their children discussing violations of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and, on the grounds of racial discrimination, of refugee
law. On 15 February 2022, the Working Group filed an amicus curiae brief before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights in the matter of Rutgers Law School International
Human Rights Clinic v. the United States on voting rights for incarcerated people. On 27 May
2022, the Working Group published an expert report to be filed in the criminal courts in
Switzerland in the case of Brian K. v. Switzerland, discussing the ongoing role of systemic
racism in decision-making within the justice system that had violated the rights of a child of
African descent. On 6 December 2022, the Working Group filed an amicus curiae brief in
the case Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mumia Abu-Jamal with the objective of
contributing to the analysis of systemic racism in the criminal justice system relating to the
probity and relevance of long-withheld evidence.16 The Working Group also petitioned for
permission to file an amicus curiae brief in the case of B.H.K. v. Switzerland, which is
currently pending before the European Court of Human Rights.
B.
Country visits
17.
Since 2002, the Working Group has conducted 23 country visits, including 5 followup visits, at the invitation of Governments and under the terms of reference of the special
procedures. The Working Group has visited Argentina, 17 Australia, 18 Belgium, 19 Brazil, 20
Canada, 21 Ecuador, 22 Germany, 23 Guyana, 24 Italy, 25 Netherlands (Kingdom of the), 26
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
GE.23-15301
See https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/wg-african-descent/activities.
See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/racism/wgeapd/amicuscuriae/20221206-WGEPAD-Amicus-Mumia-Abu-Jamal.pdf.
See A/HRC/42/59/Add.2.
See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/racism/wgeapd/2022-12-20/2022-1220-EOM-WGEPAD-Australia.pdf.
See E/CN.4/2006/19/Add.1, A/HRC/42/59/Add.1 and A/HRC/42/59/Add.3.
See A/HRC/27/68/Add.1.
See A/HRC/36/60/Add.1.
See A/HRC/13/59 and A/HRC/45/44/Add.1.
See A/HRC/36/60/Add.2 and A/HRC/36/60/Add.4.
See A/HRC/39/69/Add.1.
See A/HRC/33/61/Add.1.
See A/HRC/30/56/Add.1 and A/HRC/30/56/Add.3.
5