A/HRC/36/60 number of other mandate holders calling upon the United States to immediately halt the execution of Kevin Cooper. On 2 December, the Working Group joined several mandate holders calling upon Governments to move from rhetoric to action and urgently honour their political and financial commitments to development, marking the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development. On 5 January 2017, the Working Group issued a statement supporting a school district which had removed an “offensive” textbook on slavery from classrooms. 17. A delegation of the Working Group had met with development and financial institutions in New York from 2 to 4 November 2016, under its mandate to elaborate proposals for the elimination of racial discrimination and to contribute to development programmes for people of African descent.2 The delegation advocated for prioritization of programmes and projects specifically tailored for combating racial discrimination against people of African descent in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Decade. The Working Group specifically called for the following actions to be taken: (a) devoting special attention to the human rights situation of people of African descent, gathering data disaggregated on the basis of race and other variables following a human rights-based approach, analysing disparities and preparing specific programmes of action to address gaps and improve their human rights situation; (b) designing special projects, in collaboration with people of African descent, to support their initiatives at the community level. The Working Group offered to assist and facilitate the exchange of information and to connect people of African descent with financial and development institutions for this purpose. It would share its country visit reports and request development and financial institutions to assist Member States and people of African descent in the implementation of its recommendations; and (c) allocating additional investments to people of African descent in health-care systems and for education, housing, electricity, drinking water and environmental control measures and promoting equal opportunities in employment, as well as other affirmative or positive measures and strategies within the human rights framework. The delegation met with the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Group Human Rights Working Group, the United Nations Population Fund, the Department of Public Information, the Ford Foundation, and members of civil society, the media and other United Nations anti-racism experts. The meetings generated different avenues for further engagement with key partners in this area. IV. Summary of deliberations Thematic analysis: development and people of African descent 18. The Working Group devoted its twentieth session to the theme “Leaving no one behind: people of African descent and the Sustainable Development Goals”. 19. The first panel discussion focused on Sustainable Development Goal 1 on ending poverty in all its forms everywhere. Ms. Fanon Mendes-France gave a presentation providing examples of the types of inequalities faced by people of African descent in different parts of the diaspora, including France and its overseas territories, specifically the French Caribbean, which had led to poverty. She highlighted the importance of data collection, as very little data were available for assessing the impact of poverty and inequality on people of African descent. People of African descent had experienced poverty since the time of the trade in enslaved Africans and it was one of the consequences of the way in which the newly freed people had been treated after abolition. The lack of will to repair the order which had instituted racialization kept them in a state of extreme precariousness, the consequences of which were still visible today. They were the first to be affected by policies that caused inequalities, including through globalization and structural racism. She provided several socioeconomic indicators pointing to the growing inequalities 2 The Working Group also held meetings in Washington, D.C. for that purpose on 27 and 28 June 2016. 5