A/HRC/57/70 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council in accordance with Council resolutions 9/14, 18/28, 27/25, 36/23, 45/24 and 54/26. The report is focused on the Working Group’s consultations with various stakeholders and partners, as well as on its research. 2. Following the scheduling of the annual sessions of the Permanent Forum on People of African descent in the spring, the Working Group took a decision to invert its private and public sessions to facilitate aligning its private session with the annual session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent for enhanced collaboration and complementarity. The Working Group therefore held its thirty-third and thirty-fourth sessions, the 2023 and 2024 private sessions, respectively in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 4 to 8 December 2023, and in Geneva from 22 to 26 April 2024. 3. In preparation for this report, the Working Group issued a call for written submissions from States and civil society. It also organized a virtual consultation on 23 July 2024 with experts specialized in various areas of digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), and new and emerging technologies. 4. In the present report, the Working Group stresses that digitalization, AI, and new and emerging technologies - while inherently neutral and objective - are subject to the perceptions and perspectives, postures and positions of the people who design, develop and deploy these technologies. The regulatory regimes, preparation of and for, and access to these technologies should therefore include more fully the participation and the expertise of people of African descent to shape the discourse and interrogation of these technologies. In this regard, the report aims to proffer measures that would reimagine data collection, analysis, and data use for appropriate safeguards and the realization of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs), for people of African descent. 5. The Working Group thanks States, representatives of international organizations, academic institutions and civil society for their inputs to this report. II. Organization of the sessions A. Thirty-third session 6. The Working Group held its thirty-third session at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the African Union (AU) Headquarters, from 4 to 8 December 2023. This was the first time a Working Group session was organized outside of Geneva and New York. The Working Group chose Addis Ababa mainly to continue to strengthen its collaboration and cooperation with the African Union on two of the Working Group’s current priorities, namely racial justice and reparatory justice, building on prior engagement with the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights and the AU’s Citizens & Diaspora Directorate (CIDO), as well as to engage with other key stakeholders in the region, and benefit from wide participation of people of African descent and African civil society. In addition to its internal planning, monitoring and evaluation agenda, the Working Group met with the outgoing Commissioner and Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Displaced Persons and Migrants and discussed common concerns about the situation of African migrants in North America, and the Middle East and North Africa, including those seeking to transit to Europe. In this context, the Working Group also held a virtual consultation with the civil society Regional Network for Development and Anti-Racism in the Middle East and North Africa (RNDAR-MENA) and an in-person meeting with a consortium of civil society organizations to inform about the mandate, exchange ideas and strategies about common priorities, and explore opportunities for collaboration to support anti-racism work in the region. The Working Group also held bilateral meetings with the OHCHR East Africa Regional Office (EARO) Deputy Regional Representative; the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the AU and Head of the Office to the AU; the Principal Political Affairs Officer, Office of the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa; 2