SEND BBHAGSIA PRESIDENT SIPHIWE BALEKA TO THE UN PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT THIRD SESSION!
March 11, 2024 - The Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) informed Mr. Siphiwe Baleka, who serves as the President of the Balanta B’urassa History and Genalogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA) and was recently appointed as the Interim Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, that his request for financial assistance to attend PFPAD’s 3rd Session was denied. The announcement stated,
“we regret to inform you that your application for financial assistance was not successful. The selection process was extremely competitive, owing to a very high volume of applications and few seats available for financial support, while also taking into account geographic and gender considerations in the selection process.”
The decision is both puzzling and disappointing. On October 27, 2022, the PFPAD Secretariat announced,
“We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to be supported to participate in the first session of the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, scheduled to take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 5-8 December 2022.”
At that first PFPAD session Mr. Baleka, made a satement from the floor on behalf of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA). He made a second statement representing BBHAGSIA on behalf of Afro Descendant people in which he stated,
“we call on this Forum to vigorously request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on our status as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention as well as our right to conduct plebiscites for self determination including the right to secede from the jurisdictions of colonial successor states in the Western hemisphere and form our own independent governments.”
After invoking the PFPAD mandate to request the “preparation and dissemination” of information from UN organs, which would include the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Mr. Baleka sustained a campaign to hold PFPAD accountable to the people of African Descent and this necessary legal action for global African reparatory justice. The campaign included a A MANDATE FROM THE AFRO DESCENDANT PEOPLE ISSUED TO THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ON THEIR STATUS AS PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER THE GENEVA CONVENTION signed by 256 supporters from around the world, many of them delegates to the PFPAD 1st session including a letter of support from H.E. Ambassador Arikana Chihombori Quao.
Mr. Baleka made a second STATEMENT TO THE 2ND SESSION OF PFPAD: MANDATE TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE ICJ that was followed by AN OPEN LETTER TO EPSY CAMPBELL BARR IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CLOSE OF THE 2ND SESSION OF THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT. This resulted in PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Bar Agreeing to sign a Request for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the Status of Afro Descendants Enslaved in the Americas and PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Barr’s Official Response to the Mandate Requesting an ICJ Advisory Opinion in which the PFPAD President stated, ““I have requested the incorporation of this item in the agenda of the next meeting, to proceed to analyze it jointly. I also inform the High Commissioner of the United Nations of this, . . .” To assist in the joint analysis, on November 20, 2023 Mr. Baleka launched an Input Form for lawyers and jurists in order to gather their opinions on the legal questions that have been submitted.
In addition, A Letter Urging PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Bar to Immediately Fulfill the Mandate Given by Civil Society to Request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice was sent to PFPAD that stated,
“We, therefore, takE this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to this ICJ initiative and to make absolutely clear that our Brother Siphiwe Baleka of the Balanta B’urassa Society must represent us at the highest level of engagement with the ICJ.”
“It is therefuore puzzling,” said Mr. Baleka, “that the PFPAD would discontinue its sponsorship of BBHAGSIA and refuset to respect the wishes of Afro Descendant people who want me to represent them at the PFPAD third session in this most important matter. Given the incredible amount of work I have done to push this issue which is now being considered independently by both the AU and CARICOM, on the one hand, and given the fact that I am pursuing this as a citizen of Guinea Bissau, one of the poorest countries in Africa with NO participation from any other NGO at PFPAD, I fail to see how I am not among the most competitive, most qualified and most deserving of such sponsorship. I can only suspect the decision is political.”