U.N. forum will define international obligations to people of African descent

The weeklong convening of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) brought 900 people to the United Nations’ New York headquarters. They arrived eager to add proposals about what needs to be done to enhance the lives of Black people in various parts of the world.

The week did not start out easy though: many Black activists had traveled from across the continent—and some from locations as far away as Australia, Ireland, and countries in Latin America––yet they say they were aggravated by the fact that they had to wait for hours to enter the U.N. There was a three-hour long line for U.N. entrance passes, which could have possibly have been arranged prior to the start of the conference.

Once inside, however, activists joined non-profit and governmental representatives to talk about the concept and possibility of reparations for African enslavement; the ideals of Pan-Africanism and its suggestions for how to deal with past injustices and what to push forward for in the future; the racism and other difficulties people of African descent are facing as they migrate from war torn or failing nations; the methods of collecting and distributing high-quality and timely employment, economic, age, geographic, and economic statistics on Black populations; and the practices communities can use to promote health and well-being, while dealing with intergenerational trauma.

Epsy Campbell Barr, the former vice president of Costa Rica, chairs the PFPAD. She confessed to a press roundtable that “There’s a lot of expectation from civil society around the world, but mostly from here, from this hemisphere––from Latin America, North America, and Canada” regarding the Permanent Forum. Indices for Black human rights remain low, political participation is on the wane, and systemic racism remains an everyday reality throughout the hemisphere. 

Campbell Barr said that the calls for the extension of the International Decade for People of African Descent, which was originally declared for the years 2015 through the end of 2024, are because the U.N. was not able to get full commitments about promoting wider recognition and the social and economic development of Black communities from most countries. The COVID-19 pandemic also put a damper on programs meant to aid Black people.

One of the decade’s main achievements, though, was the establishment of the Permanent Forum. “We feel that in a second decade, because there is a larger demand from different organizations, we are going to have the political power to push our governments to do something for our communities,” said Campbell Barr. She added that the fact that the new Decade for People of African Descent would start five years before the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda in 2030 will serve as an extra push to get governments to truly work for Black communities.