NEW AFRIKAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Statement to the 20th session of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration

Civil Society Section Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

INVITATION

On behalf of the Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (IGWG), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights presents its compliments to civil society organizations, particularly people of African descent organizations and has the honour to refer to resolution A/RES/76/226 of December 2021, in which the General Assembly requested the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action to devote at least half of its annual session to the elaboration of a draft United Nations Declaration on the promotion and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent. On 10 June 2022, the Chairperson of the IGWG met regional coordinators. In order to facilitate discussions during the IGWG 20th session, the Chairperson proposed to prepare a Chair’s zero draft United Nations Declaration on the promotion and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent. As requested by resolution A/RES/76/226, the Chairperson will also consult with the Permanent Forum on People of African descent and the Working Group of Experts on People of African descent to seek their views on the draft declaration. These two mechanisms will be also invited to the IGWG 20th session, which will take place from 10th to 21 October 2022, in Palais des Nations, Geneva. The Chair’s zero draft declaration will also take into account inputs from Member States, UN agencies and human rights mechanisms, and civil society, particularly people of African descent organizations. The Chairperson will share the zero draft with the IGWG two weeks prior to the discussion of the draft. Civil society organizations are therefore invited to share their views on the scope of the draft United Nations Declaration on the promotion and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent, and in particular the key human rights and specific guarantees the draft Declaration should include. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would be grateful if submissions could be limited to five pages and sent to the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, CH-1211, Geneva 10.

Pursuant to the invitation, the Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society in America submitted its statement, on behalf of the New Afrikan Independence Movement.