A/HRC/36/60
of their race or gender, were discriminated against in the assessment of their educational
attainments (including certificates) and consequently were not considered in awarding
employment and advancement opportunities.
30.
Martin Oelz, from the International Labour Organization (ILO), highlighted the ILO
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), which was the
organization’s main instrument on the subject, along with the Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169). The contributions by ILO to the report on the Decade
took into account the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda. The report gave an overview of
the situation of persons of African descent in the world of work, and described ILO action
in several areas: awareness raising, strengthening dialogue around fundamental principles
and rights at work; building reliable statistics and data collection; a focus on the rural and
informal economy; and building international alliances to address the situation of people of
Africa descent. He concluded by providing the perspective of ILO in addressing
discrimination through the Sustainable Development Goals with interventions in the
following areas: improving anti-discrimination legislation, its enforcement and access to
justice; addressing multiple forms of discrimination; enhancing enterprise-level policies and
practices to prevent and address discrimination based on race, colour, ethnicity or other
relevant grounds; encouraging policy-oriented and evidence-based research to underpin
policy debates and development; promoting access to decent work in key occupations and
economic sectors, including through transitions to the formal economy and universal access
to a social protection floor; building broad alliances at the national, regional and
international levels to promote ownership and support for diversity and rejection of racial
discrimination; and ensuring that organizations of persons of Africa Descent and relevant
civil society organizations could participate in follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda.
31.
During the interactive session, Ms. Fanon Mendes-France asked Mr. Reid about
narrating the legacy of the trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism in an accurate
manner. Mr. Reid noted that quite a few Caribbean historians had spent time rewriting the
history of the Caribbean; however, Eurocentric materials were still being circulated in
schools. Currently, Caribbean students had to travel to the former colonial countries to
access materials related to the region. The repatriation of documents was a suggested
solution. Technology transfer was another suggestion related to reparations. The
representative of South Africa emphasized the importance of access to education and of
quality education. The representative of Cuba spoke of the importance of international
cooperation, which applied to education as well. The representative of Barbados also
commented on the importance of teaching about local history prior to the transatlantic trade
in enslaved Africans. Civil society representatives commented on the impact of litigation on
the lack of funding for education, human rights education for children and the importance
of the recognition of history in education. In conclusion, Mr. Reid reminded the civil
society representatives to be engaged in the high-level political forum on sustainable
development scheduled to take place under the auspices of the Economic and Social
Council in July 2017.
32.
The fourth panel focused on the topic of Goal 16 on promoting peaceful and
inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and
building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Mr. Gumedze stated
that Goal 16 was an important tool or agent of change for advancing the mandate of the
Working Group. The violence to which people of African descent were subjected was
usually a component of racist crimes. One way of reducing such crimes was by improving
social cohesion, especially in culturally diverse societies. For example, the Government of
Belgium had created an inter-dialogue commission in 2004 with the aim of improving
social cohesion in Belgium’s culturally diverse society. Mr. Gumedze gave other examples
of similar measures to address access to justice for people of African descent that the
Working Group had proposed following country visits.
33.
Justin Hansford, of the St. Louis University School of Law, spoke about the
achievements of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States as well as about
continuing manifestations of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system in the
country. The disproportionate impact of racial violence and police brutality on people of
African descent in the United States was compounded by the fear that the new
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