A/HRC/39/69 I. Introduction 1. The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent held its twenty-first session from 20 to 24 November 2017 and its twenty-second session from 19 to 23 March 2018 at the United Nations Office at Geneva. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 9/14, 18/28, 27/25 and 36/23, in which the Council requested the Working Group to submit an annual report on all activities relating to its mandate. The report focuses mainly on the deliberations at the twenty-second session of the Working Group. 2. Representatives of Member States, the Holy See, international organizations, regional organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and invited panellists participated in the twenty-second session (see annex). II. Organization of the twenty-second session A. Opening of the session 3. In her opening statement, the Director of Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and the Right to Development Division of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), expressed appreciation for the work undertaken by the Working Group. She outlined the importance of the thematic discussions of the session on violent manifestations of racism and racial discrimination, the administration of justice, land rights and reparations in addressing some of the most pervasive human rights concerns of people of African descent. She noted that despite the existence of the robust anti-racism architecture of the United Nations, the mechanisms in place were only fully effective when Member States honoured their commitment to international human rights treaties, the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action and the programme of activities of the International Decade for People of African Descent, along with sustained civil society engagement and participation in those mechanisms. 4. The Director also encouraged the Working Group to continue to reach out to financial and development institutions through the development of its operational guidelines based on the Sustainable Development Goals in which the theme “leave no one behind” had a special meaning for people of African descent. She also took note of the initiatives of the Decade to draft a declaration on the promotion and full respect of human rights of people of African descent and emphasized the need for strong political will and civil society engagement to accomplish the task. She reaffirmed the commitment of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the Coordinator of the International Decade, to advancing the rights of people of African descent. B. Election of the Chair-Rapporteur 5. Michal Balcerzak was elected Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group. 6. Sabelo Gumedze, the outgoing Chair-Rapporteur, welcomed Marie-Evelyne PetrusBarry as a new member of the Working Group and thanked the other members for their contributions. Mr. Gumedze also acknowledged both the success of the Working Group in having their recommendations adopted by States on the issue of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent and the need to continue efforts to have more States adopt its recommendations. 7. Accepting his new role as Chair-Rapporteur, Mr. Balcerzak thanked the other experts for his election and the participants for their support. 8. The representatives of Brazil, Canada, Haiti, Peru, Togo (on behalf of the Group of African States) and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) expressed their appreciation to Mr. 3