A/HRC/54/71 affected people of African descent, including their exposure to the risk of infection, because of their high level of representation among first responders, essential personnel and undocumented essential workers. No special measures were taken for the at-risk populations of people of African descent. Deprioritization and disregard in policymaking throughout the pandemic compounded the harm to people of African descent. One clear example in some countries was access to financial assistance, with stimulus payments and unemployment assistance excluding undocumented persons, a population disproportionately composed of people of African descent. 62. During the pandemic, people of African descent all over the world reported rising levels of police violence, often on the pretext of enforcing social-distancing requirements. The abuses of authority witnessed during the pandemic also set the stage for global protests over systemic racism in law enforcement and quasi-law enforcement prompted by the killing of several people of African descent.55 63. In response to the global protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in May 202056 and the broader movement against racial injustice and police brutality, the Working Group expressed solidarity with the protesters and emphasized the need to address systemic racism and discrimination faced by people of African descent worldwide. It called for accountability for human rights violations; police reform; and measures to combat racial profiling and discrimination. 64. Given the significance of both the pandemic and the protests regarding human rights, the Working Group reiterated its call for improved data collection and monitoring to better understand the impact of these events on people of African descent and to inform evidencebased policy responses. It noted the decision in some jurisdictions to refrain from keeping data disaggregated by race or from publishing it, particularly once the racial disparities characterizing the pandemic became clear. 57 Such affirmative obstruction directly limits knowledge production and understanding. Children of African descent 65. In its 2022 report on children of African descent,58 the Working Group focused on human rights relating to the racial discrimination and inequality faced by such children, including in the administration of justice, law enforcement, education, health, family regulation systems and development, and also considered the issue of redress for the legacies of enslavement, colonialism and racial segregation. The report was issued in follow-up to the thematic discussion the Working Group had held in 2009, which had been focused on children of African descent, including the violence perpetrated against them and their access to education and health care. The discussion with stakeholders and panellists had led to key conclusions, including the importance of efforts to prevent the disproportionate representation of children of African descent in the juvenile justice system. 59 66. At the public session of the Working Group in 2022, it was highlighted that children of African descent were confronted with racialized barriers to the fulfilment of their best interests, which prevented them from realizing their full potential. Such barriers created, inter alia, the intergenerational transmission of poverty and race-based traumatic stress, a lack of access to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the criminalization of identity. For children of African descent, negative racial stereotypes often prevailed over age, denying them the systemic protections normally accorded to children. 67. The 2022 report detailed the ways in which persistent negative racial stereotypes of presumed criminality, culpability and dangerousness influenced decision-making, including by police officers, prosecutors, lawyers and judges globally. The childhood of people of African descent was stolen by persistent racial biases in policing and family interventions, 55 56 57 58 59 14 A/HRC/45/44, paras. 41–44. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/06/un-experts-condemn-modern-day-racial-terrorlynchings-us-and-call-systemic. See A/76/302, paras. 54, 55, 81 and 92. A/HRC/51/54. See A/HRC/10/66. GE.23-15301