A/HRC/33/61
a high concentration of power and wealth. She presented a number of recommendations
regarding development strategies for people of African descent living in the Black Belt, in
alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, including providing
entrepreneurship education, helping a new generation of farmers of African descent to
acquire property in the region, building capacity and providing microfinancing for
community-based organizations, among others.
33.
Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, said in
his videotaped message that the International Decade represented an opportunity for
recognition, justice and development for people of African descent, and for promoting their
full inclusion in all aspects of society. He invited all Governments in the region, as well as
entrepreneurs and civil society, to persevere together in that undertaking.
34.
The presentations were followed by an interactive session during which Mr. Sunga
asked the panellists to elaborate more on the linkages between development and justice.
The representative of South Africa enquired about the Working Group’s engagement with
United Nations agencies working on development, such as the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, in addition to engagement in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. Mr. Balcerzak replied that the Working Group had just began its
work with financial and development institutions and would take into account the
suggestions made.
35.
A special panel discussion was held to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the implementation of the International
Decade for People of African Descent. Mary Robinson, former United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights and Secretary-General of the World Conference against
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, of which the Durban
Declaration had been an outcome, delivered her statement through a videotaped message.
Ms. Robinson said that one of the positive outcomes of the World Conference against
Racism had been the establishment of the Working Group in 2002 by the Human Rights
Commission. She congratulated the Working Group on its valuable reports over the years
and drew its attention to the issue of attacks against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants
arriving in Europe, as well as the racist language increasingly being used by some political
parties in Europe. She added that hate speech, rooted in hostility to ethnic, religious and
cultural diversity, was being used not only by extremist groups but also by politicians from
across the political spectrum, and in social media. She hoped that the Working Group
would use its voice to reassert the values and principles of tolerance, equality and nondiscrimination, with particular emphasis on awareness-raising and other educational
initiatives aimed at countering racist messages and promoting mutual understanding.
36.
Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and Chair of
the CARICOM Reparations Commission, delivered a videotaped statement in which he
said that the International Decade was an opportunity to ensure that strategies to alleviate
the harm and suffering long imposed on people of African descent were long-term and
sustainable. While such people were still confronting the legacy of the past in areas such as
economic distribution of wealth, hostilities by police authorities and harsh judicial
punishment, as well as access to education, health care and housing, the reparatory justice
movement was gaining momentum with the establishment of national commissions for
reparations in several countries. The movement was not simply about the empowerment of
people of African descent in respect of the history they had experienced, but also about
finding a new philosophy for the organization of societies and the world in order to
establish social justice, moral authority and peace within the human family.
37.
The Regional Coordinators also participated in the panel discussion. The
representative of the European Union described how developments in the European Union
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