A/69/318 Presentation to the Third Committee and side event during the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly in New York 46. On 4 November 2013, the Chair of the Working Group reported on the status of the Working Group’s work and on the International Decade to the Third Committee of the General Assembly. The presentation focused on the rationale for the Decade, including the need to pay more serious att ention to the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and to build on the gains of the International Year for People of African Descent. In addition to the interactive dialogue with the Third Committee, a side event was held, which allowed for more detailed discussion on the Decade and the work of the Working Group. Latin American and Caribbean regional meeting 47. In March 2014, the Chair of the Working Group participated in the Latin American and Caribbean regional meeting on the International Decade for People of African Descent. Representatives of Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) met in Brasilia on 20 and 21 March 2014, to discuss proposals for the International Decade for People of African Descent established by the United Nations, from 2015 onwards, as well as by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, from 2014 onwards. 48. Invited by the Brazilian Special Secretariat for Policies on the Promotion of Racial Equality, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, the participants considered a common position of the Latin American and Caribbean countries in negotiations to be held in the United Nations, with a view to preparing a programme of action for the International Decade for People of Af rican Descent; developed proposals for the Decade for Latin American and Caribbean People of African Descent established by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States; and recommended international, regional and national strategies to promote the inclusion of people of African descent and overcome racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. 49. The participants committed to support the draft programme of action for the International Decade for People of African Descent elaborated by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, referred to in Human Rights Council document A/HRC/21/60/Add.2, including, among others, the proposal to create a United Nations forum for people of African descent and to draft a declaration on the promotion of and full respect for their human rights. 50. They recognized that despite the progress in several Latin American and Caribbean countries in promoting equality and non-discrimination and the rights of people of African descent, there still remained great challenges in the fight against exclusion and marginalization on ethnic and racial grounds. They welcomed the opening for signature of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance to representatives of States parties to the Convention and encouraged countries to continue the process of signature and ratification. 12/22 14-59293