A/HRC/39/69 since the beginning of civilization. He further highlighted the spiritual, religious, administrative and cultural connection that people of African descent had with land. Mr. Nehusi pointed out that the consequence of colonization was not just that they were dispossessed of land but also that there was no compensation for their labour for people of African descent. He requested the Working Group to support people of African descent in recovering their ancestral lands. He also recommended that Africans be involved at all levels of society to search for solutions on land issues. Lastly, he recommended the training and teaching of African culture and history and the return of lands obtained by colonization. 35. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance gave a presentation by video statement. She pointed out that denial of land rights was one of the most persistent and structurally rooted forms of racial oppression confronting people of African descent and Africans in Africa. The Special Rapporteur stated that in the diaspora, communities of African descent were facing a risk of forced, violent and often deadly displacement because Governments, multinational corporations and even multilateral financial institutions often used the discourse of development to legitimize the dispossession of those communities of their land. Even in urban settings, people of African descent confronted documented, egregious racial discrimination related to security of tenure, including in their access to housing. She suggested that in order to resolve the issue, there must be an acknowledgement by the former colonial powers of their shared moral responsibility for finding workable solutions that respected human rights to the failure of decolonization processes, providing pathways to substantive racial equality in landownership. She also emphasized that women of African descent must be included in the discussion as they are especially vulnerable to intersectional discrimination and subordination because of the ways that race and gender interact to heighten their exclusion from land rights. The Special Rapporteur concluded by assuring the Working Group of her close cooperation on the proposed declaration, including specifically on the question of land rights. 36. During the interactive discussion, Mr. Sunga noted the recommendation of giving land to people of African descent as a way of compensating for enslavement. He asked how such land rights could be formulated alongside the rights of indigenous peoples. In response, Mr. Nehusi said that in the Americas, the labour of people of African descent on the land meant that they belonged to the land and vice versa. He commented that while land might not be claimed in compensation while dispossessing its rightful owners, those lands where people of African descent had lived could be provided to them. Ms. Petrus-Barry noted the important connection between land and the remembrance of ancestors for people of African descent. Mr. Nehusi noted that colonialism had fractured African people through the erasure of African cultures and traditions, as well as importing the colonizers’ own schisms — for example, there were British-dominated parts of the Caribbean and French parts of the Caribbean. He called for disconnected groups to restore unity and freely exchange information among themselves. Ms. Petrus-Barry echoed this suggestion, acknowledging that language was often a formidable barrier to finding common cultural grounds. She also raised the issue of human rights defenders who are at risk of criminalization as they pursue African land rights in addition to other rights. One representative of civil society raised concerns over racial discrimination against Afro-Colombians and their right to free, prior and informed consultation in relation to land in Colombia. Similarly, another civil society representative shared information about discriminatory housing practices in the United States. 37. The fourth panel focused on the theme “Reparations for people of African descent”. Ms. Petrus-Barry gave an introductory presentation on the topic. She defined reparations in the context of the deportation and enslavement of Africans and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. Ms. Petrus-Barry also emphasized the need to make reparations to people of African descent for such crimes and pointed out that only after confronting past and current theories related to the presumed inferiority of people of African descent, would the general public pay attention to violent acts of racism, question their own mentality and accept legislative changes at the national level that could reverse the discrimination and violent extremism that face people of African descent. Ms. Petrus-Barry then examined international human rights tools for reparations, including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 10-point plan for reparatory justice, which had been endorsed by the Working 10