Foreword to Expert Consultation on the Draft UN Declaration on the Promotion, Protection, and Full Respect of the Human Rights of People of African Descent
Last month, RLS-NYC celebrated Black History Month by traveling to New Orleans, Louisiana to host a small screening of Songs of Slavery and Emancipation. The documentary and CD are the resulting work of Mat Callahan who compiled recently discovered songs composed by enslaved people resisting slavery and songs from the abolitionist movement. These works, dating from as early as 1784, to the Civil War, represent an under-told history of steadfast, militant resistance and humanity during patently inhumane times. The music in Songs of Slavery and Emancipation holds a central theme of indignation, demands for the destruction of slaveholders’ property, and foretelling a notion of freedom and justice that is to be seized, as opposed to received.
In 2024, RLS-NYC, in conjunction with the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School supported an expert consultation with members of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The consultation brought in preeminent minds and scholars on issues of racism, colonialism, history, law, historical justice, and people of African Descent. The goal of this consultation was to discuss and create the parameters for what a reparatory justice statement that UN Member states will commit to, should look and sound like. The “scope”, here is the “who”, (for) “what”, “when”, “how” and “why” of reparatory, justice is integral to understanding the importance of the reparations movement for people of African Descent. This includes people in Africa, and globally as the African diasporic communities. The through line between the descendants of enslaved people, and those that have lived through and are still experiencing the effects of colonialism in Africa and Latin America brought together an experienced and well-researched collection of stakeholders committed to continuing the demand for freedom and justice.
The following report on the proceedings upholds the notion of enshrining the rights of people of African descent within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This establishes the legal framework for the protection against, systemic and structural racism to affirm their guarantee of “dignity, inclusion equity and restorative justice for Africans and people of African descent.” Proceeding historical declarations, statements, and documents like the The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) act as the ‘North Star’ for developing the draft resolution. The Durban Declarations’ particular importance to the U.N. understanding of the fight against racism is enshrined in the framework for future struggles for equality and justice within the same venue. Expanding upon the stakeholders whilst simultaneously narrowing and updating the specific harms of Colonialism, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, racism and discrimination against people of African Descent requires a deep understanding of the forum, history, and participants in the proceedings. This expert consultation established the parameters of the fight currently and in the future for the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent’s mandate to “improve the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent”. The theme of steadfast resistance in the face of oppression and state-backed obstacles remains present in many fights at the country, county, and district levels, which RLS-NYC will cover throughout the year.
