A/HRC/24/52 recommended the introduction of affirmative action policies in areas where discrimination had historically been felt particularly intensely, such as access to education, health, employment, in both the public and private sectors. Proportional representation or some other suitable electoral system should be put in place in order to increase opportunities for people of African descent to participate effectively in the political life of a country. 36. Ali Moussa Iye, Chief of the History and Memory for the Dialogue Section at UNESCO, delivered his presentation on the respect for the culture, identity, history and heritage of people of African descent, with a focus on analysing the historical sources of prejudices against peoples of African descent and how they were perpetuated today. He said that the threefold discrimination endured by people of African descent consisted of the humanity lost due to slavery, a denial of history of the people of African descent and the denial of citizenship. He said that the perception of an African without history or civilization was the main basis for discrimination. There was a need to review and revise history so that the history of Africa and the contribution of Africans to the world were recognized. He added that there was a need for people of African descent to promote, teach and build the discourse about themselves, without others speaking in their place. 37. He said that the proposal for the International Decade for People of African Descent should provide the opportunity and the resources for more justice and recognition for people of African descent. However, he cautioned that the celebration of the Decade should avoid large programmes and events. He said focus should be on: introducing affirmative action policies; adopting laws on teaching African history in selected countries; providing financial support for films and television programmes to deconstruct discrimination; providing research grants and professorships to study the situation of people of African descent; and naming streets and memorials. He stated that UNESCO was working on some of the above-mentioned issues, including the urgent need to recognize, document and promote the rich contribution of people of African descent to the progress of humanity and the shaping of modern societies. He particularly stressed the importance of teaching the history and civilizations of Africa in redressing the biased discourses on people of African descent. To that end, he indicated the types of actions to be undertaken for the Decade for People of African Descent and in particular the activities that UNESCO planned to implement within the framework of its two ongoing projects, namely the General History of Africa and the Slave Route Project. 38. During the interactive dialogue, Mr. Viáfara was asked about the importance in educating people on data collection during census programmes. A State representative suggested that it was important to ensure that data collection was undertaken in the perspective of the provisions of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and further ensuring that such collection of data did not lead to racial profiling or any other misuse of data. In response, Mr. Viáfara highlighted the importance of training the staff of national statistics institutes responsible for collecting and disaggregating data in human rights and the culture and history of the communities about which they would be gathering information and on data protection. He also mentioned the need to adopt laws regulating the collection and processing of ethnic and racial data that protected fundamental freedoms, including the right to privacy, protecting data from misuse and ensuring the confidentiality of information. 39. Following Mr. Iye’s presentation, a number of NGOs welcomed the UNESCO programme of action and enquired about grassroots participation in its activities. Mr. Iye maintained that, since the nature of activities was related to grassroots, there would be full partnership with such NGOs. He also suggested the work on the ninth volume of the General History of Africa which UNESCO was developing and the fiftieth anniversary of Pan-Africanism as avenues for further collaboration on promoting the rights of people of African descent. 10