Peoples’ and Civil Society Call for Decade for People of African Descent

emblem_ENThe National Lawyers Guild International Committee has signed on to the following call for an International Decade for People of African Descent. If your organization would like to sign on, please email all endorsements to kakuno@ushrnetwork.org.

Peoples’ and Civil Society letter to the United Nations Member States calling for the UN General Assembly to declare 2012-2022 as the International Decade for People of African Descent.

The undersigned peoples and civil society organisations, including those representing People of African Descent, wish to express their appreciation to the UN member states who introduced and cooperated in the process of adopting the decision to commemorate 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent.

We recognize that the International Year for People of African Descent with the widely accepted theme of “People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice and Development” has brought important international attention to the plight of People of African Descent suffering from centuries of racism and denial of human rights. Yet its purpose can not and has not been accomplished in one year.

We now call on the United Nations General Assembly to declare 2012 to 2022 as the International Decade for People of African Descent with the theme “People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice, Development”.

As the call for the UN to declare an International Year for People of African Descent originated from the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent set up to promote the rights for People of African Descent contained in the 2001 Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) we find it mandatory that the General Assembly place the adoption of the International Decade within the agenda item and framework of the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

We insist on the General Assembly at this session to officially adopt “People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice, Development” as the theme of the Decade. The theme, originating from non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) and proposed by the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent became widely accepted during the International Year and officially adopted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as its theme for its activities during the International Year.

We furthermore call for the International Decade to be developed with the full involvement of People of African Descent and supported by Civil Society and that a fully funded Programme of Activities should be adopted next year by the General Assembly taking account of proposals from the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, People of African Descent and Civil Society organisations.

Sincerely,

Africa Action

African American Police League

African Canadian Legal Clinic

African European Women’s Movement “Sophiedela” (Europe/NL)

African European Women’s Movement “Sophiedela” Youth segment (Europe/NL)

Africans on the Move

African People of Love

African Union African Diaspora 6th Region Europe

African World Studies Institute (The Netherlands)

Africana Studies Program, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ

All African People Revolutionary Party

Amos N Wilson Institute

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

Black People Against Police Torture

Boon Ja Ba

Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign

Committee in Remembrance of Swedish Transatlantic Slave Trade

DDPA Watch Group

December 12th Movement

The Drammeh Institute

Federation of African Diaspora Organisations “UN BONDRU” (republic Suriname)

Fellowship of Reconciliation USA

Foreign Policy in Focus

Global Afrikan Congress

The Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center

Independent Jewish Voices

International Association Against Torture

International Human Rights Association of American Minorities

International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations (ISMUN)

Jericho Movement – Chicago

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM)

Marcus Garvey Institute

Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute

Mouvement International pour les Réparations

National Lawyers Guild International Committee

National Platform Dutch Slavery, a division of 19 organisations in The
Netherlands, Curacao & republic Suriname

N’COBRA Chicago

North-South XXI

Organization for Black Struggle

Priority Africa Network

Prisoners of Conscious Committee

Rising in Solidarity with Ayiti

Swedish Committee for the International Year for People of African Descent

Task Force for Black Political Empowerment

Tiye International, Federation of Black, Migrant & Refugee women

Pan African & Strategic working Group (Europe/NL)

Pan African Diaspora Union (Europe)

The Praxis Project

US Human Rights Network (USHRN)

UTATU Collective

VOTE

WE Umoja People

World Against Racism Network (WARN)

Individuals (Organizations and Professions for Identification Only)

Prof. Samba Buri MBOUP, University of South Africa

Colia L Clark, Chair, (HUERA) Humanism Unity Equity Rights and the Arts, Coordinator, International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti USA

James Counts Early, Director Cultural Heritage Policy Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution

Bill Fletcher, Jr., BlackCommentator.com

Glen Ford, Executive Editor, BlackAgendaReport.com

Zakiyyah Samimah Muhammad

Vernellia R. Randall, Professor of Law, The University of Dayton School of Law

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