A/HRC/33/61 racism and racial discrimination. She elaborated on each of the three themes and noted that they were very much related to the issues of identity, openness, diversity and the history of colonization and colonialism. She questioned the usefulness of a quantitative approach to measuring the extent to which racism affected people of African descent. She also highlighted the importance of recognition to ensure greater visibility for people of African descent and counter the stigma of Afrophobia, discrimination, xenophobia and exclusion. The struggle for social and political recognition, along with the fight for access to justice and the right to development, would structurally change the balance of power within a society, thereby ensuring respect for the rights of people of African descent and their dignity. Recognition was an essential move to counter the policies of stigmatization, xenophobia and exclusion, and to guarantee the right to the full enjoyment of all human rights by people of African descent in all parts of the world. 18. Angela Davis, a civil rights activist and scholar from the United States, delivered a videotaped message on the importance of the three themes of the International Decade. She said that people’s collective relationship to history could not be confined to the past. She emphasized that any full recognition of the transatlantic trade in Africans and enslavement must also involve a broad consciousness of the persistence of racially inflicted violence, including in policing practices and prisons as well as in other sectors such as education, health care and housing, among others. She stressed that realization of equality and justice required major shifts in thinking about existing social, economic and political institutions. She appreciated the initiative taken by the Working Group in visiting the United States and the Working Group’s advocacy of reparations for enslavement through the implementation of economic, educational and environmental rights. 19. Isabelle Boni-Claverie, an author, screenwriter and film director, presented her documentary Too Black to Be French?, in which she shared her personal experiences in order to highlight the plight of people of African descent and the discrimination they faced in French society. She pointed out that racism affected all people of African descent, irrespective of their social status. She emphasized the need to increase awareness about the International Decade and also the work and recommendations of the Working Group. 20. During the interactive dialogue, Mr. Balcerzak asked Ms. Fanon Mendes-France whether the issue of recognition for people of African descent in France had not been suppressed in the public discourse by more current issues of integration and migration. Ms. Fanon Mendes-France responded that owing to certain integration policies people were being pushed to abandon their identity, and that the key question was therefore how to ensure inclusiveness without denying the importance of where people came from. A representative of an NGO commented on the need to look at recognition from the perspective of the contributions of people of African descent prior to the history of enslavement. 21. The second panel discussion focused on the topic of “Recognition through national action plans and policies or regional plans”. Mr. Reid gave a presentation on “Pedagogies of inclusion: a redefinition of curriculum for the recognition of people of African descent”. He elaborated on the lingering impact of enslavement and colonialism on people of African descent. For over 400 years, millions of Africans had lost the basic human right to their legal identity, and thus remained invisible in legislation and policies. The cumulative result of racial inequality, systemic discrimination and invisibility constituted a debilitating challenge in many countries. Efforts by the world community to address the scourge of racism through the first World Conference against Racism and the Durban Review Conference, as well as the International Decade, represented the latest efforts to combat racism. He reminded Member States and members of civil society of the tremendous responsibility of ensuring that future generations would live in a world free of the scourges of Afrophobia, racial discrimination and their manifestations. He cited initiatives such as 6