Marian Douglas
Writer, Speaker and International
Consultant on negotiations & reconstruction in
Post-Conflict Societies; Human Rights; & Elections

"A NOTE on the UN's New Working-Group on 'PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT' "

Marian E. Douglas
[email protected]
www.authorsden.com/mariandouglas
Copyright 2002

In its new human rights working group on 'people of African descent',
the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
has placed Black Americans, Canadians, and other unspecified Black
populations elsewhere, into the category "Western European and Other".

The OHCHR is located in Geneva, Switzerland. Text of the official UN
press release is included below.

The "Working-Group on People of African Descent" is to follow up on
concerns raised at the United Nations World Conference against Racism
(WCAR) in Durban, So. Africa, Aug/Sept. 2001.

Regarding official U.S. participation and awareness by the general public,
apparently the Durban conference and issues- such as reparations to Black
Americans and other descendants of slaves- were not popular in some circles
in Washington, and most Americans still don't seem to know the UN has
hosted two earlier international anti-racism meetings.

The "Working-Group on People of African Descent" will have five (5)
"experts" to represent all Black populations around the world, based on the
UN's division of the world into five regions: Africa, Asia, Latin America &
the Caribbean, Eastern Europe & "Western European and Others".

This list does not specifically name a number of countries and regions,
among them the United States and Canada, and with them, Black
Americans and Canadians will be subsumed under "Others" within the
Western European category.

This seems problematic, alongside the fact that the working group refers
to all Blacks as "people of African descent". What does this mean?

Before, during and after WCAR, the representatives of Black population
groups agreed on and used the term "Africans and African Descendants".

I note this as one of six persons who were elected to an interim committee
formed at the (non-UN) African and African Descendants conference held
in in April 2001 in Vienna, Austria.

Before WCAR the Vienna Conference interim committee's main task was
to draft the "Vienna Declaration of Africans and African Descendants",
and it has since disbanded.

Here in Africa local people do not call themselves "people of African
descent". They are 'Africans' living in Africa or currently overseas.

I cannot recall any other UN initiative in which a group- Asians or
Europeans for example - would be referred to as 'people of Asian' or
'people of European descent'.

As "Others" in the new working group structure neither U.S. Blacks nor
other populations and their actual regions are mentioned by name.

Apparently the UN has 5 geo-political areas they always use, and these
have not been reviewed or altered for their relevance or usefulness to
Black anti-racism issues nor do they mesh with where Black people are
located geographically or with how these communities may interact
with each other internationally.

Instead, the project sounds more like the way Africa and her internal
borders were hacked into colonial submission, for which the Continent
and the people are still paying dearly.

According to the UN email below, "Western European & Others" has
not yet "selected" an expert for "our" "region" - actually a hodge-podge
of regions - and the working group meets again in Feb 2003 in Geneva.

Before February the UN says its wants an expert representative selected
and included for "Western European and Others".

How is this expert being selected? What of those for the other 4 regions -
Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean and Eastern Europe?

The "Others" grouping will or may include populations from the Pacific
(though apparently not Asia - a recognized region) to the Middle East,
for example.

I'm not sure where they put Mexico, which is part of North America,
however may be with "Latin America & the Caribbean". Under certain
conditions that makes sense, but "Western European and Others" does
not, particularly in the context of creating working partnerships with Black
communities.

I haven't done a survey and don't know of any, but I live in Europe and
Africa and I would hazard a guess that there are few established contacts
between Black communities or organizations in disparate places like the
Mideast, Europe, the Pacific and North America.

So how will "Western European and Others" work? Will it work, and why
should it work; and if it doesn't what happens next?

How are populations in different parts of the world who are unfamiliar to
each other supposed to be represented in the same group and by one (1)
"regional" expert?

Racism and related issues are international human rights issues as well as
domestic concerns within countries. Well-thought-out structures are
required to address them even if it means altering application of the UN's
five-part division of the World.

Otherwise this working group on or for "people of African Descent"
shows distinct potential to possibly marginalise or trivialise significant
populations, and that's just the beginning.

Below is the text of the United Nations official press release on the new
working group and information for the current contact persons.

Brima Conteh (Switzerland), email: [email protected], tel. 033 6 75519998;
Ms. Raushana Karriem (in USA), tel. 770-969-4448, e: [email protected];
Ms. Dorothy Lewis (in USA), tel. 301-279-9235, e: [email protected];
and Ms. Fanta Kaba who seems to be main French-speaking contact,
e: [email protected] No further info for her.

Sometime back Mary Robinson was replaced as UN high commissioner
for human rights - which was another story in itself - and I don't recall
the name of the new human rights commissioner, who is a European man.

OHCHR-UNOG- UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
UN Office in Geneva: Web: www.unhchr.ch; address: 8-14 Avenue de la
Paix, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.

Marian E. Douglas
PO Box 14899
Nairobi, Kenya

=====================================
Original message from BRIMA CONTEH: [email protected]
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2002
Subject: PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

PRESS RELEASE FROM :

PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT PRESENT IN GENEVA FOR THE MEETING OF THE WORKING
GROUP ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

The UN Working-Group on People of African Descent has convened its first
session in Geneva during the period 25th - 29th November 2002. The
Working-Group was established by the 58th Session of the UN Commission on
Human Rights, which was held in Geneva in April 2002. It will be part of the
UN mechanisms to oversee the follow-up and implementation of the Declaration
and Programme of Action adopted by the Durban World Conference against
Racism (WCAR) held in August-September 2001. The establishment of this
Working-Group fulfilled one of the key demands of groups of people of
African descent throughout the process leading to the WCAR. The
Working-Group is composed of 5 independent experts to be appointed on
geopolitical basis and representing the five UN regions i.e. Africa, Asia,
Eastern Europe, Latin America and Caribbean and Western European and Others
Group.

This historical session of the Working-Group was organised by the
Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
and entrusted with the following mandate:

(a) to study the problems of racial discrimination faced by people of
African descent living in the Diaspora and to this end gather all relevant
information from governments and non-governmental organisations and other
relevant sources, including through holding public meetings with them;

b) to propose and ensure full access to the justice system by people of
African descent

c) to submit recommendations on the design, implementation and enforcement
of effective measures to eliminate racial profiling of people of African
descent;

d) to elaborate short-term, medium, and long-term proposals for the
elimination of racial discrimination against people of African descent,
including proposals for a mechanism to monitor and promote all their human
rights, bearing in mind the need for close collaboration with international
development agencies and the specialized agencies of the UN system to
promote human rights of people of African descent inter alia through:

1) Improving the human rights situation of people of African descent by
devoting special attention to their needs, inter alia through the
preparation of specific programmes of action;

2) Designing special projects; in collaboration with people of African
descent to support their initiatives at the community level to facilitate
the exchange of information and technical know-how between these populations
and experts in these areas

3) Developing programs intended for people of African descent allocating
additional investments to health system, education, housing, electricity,
drinking water and environmental control measures and promoting equal
opportunities in employment as well as other affirmative action initiatives,
within human rights framework. The first session of the Working-Group was
attended by the representatives of a small number of NGOs of people of
African descent as well as the representatives of some international and
regional human rights NGOs, governments etc. Participants deplored the
organisational difficulties that have severely affected the participation of
governments and other delegates especially those representing organisations
of people of African descent and therefore the quality of work.

- Official information about the convening of the Working-Group
was released on 18th November 2002 i.e. one week before the opening
ceremony on 25th November.
- As a result information was not disseminated to all concerned partners
including governments, UN agencies and civil society organisations.
- No funds are currently made available to assist people of African
descent and their organisations to attend the Working Group.

One of the important achievements of the Working Group was the appointment
of one of its members to prepare a study on reparation for the Slave Trade.
The Working Group also asked other members to prepare two separate studies
i.e. on the use of the United Nations human rights mechanisms to effectively
recognize, protect and promote the human rights of people of African
descent.

The third study is on the identification and definition of people of African
descent and intends to explore how racial discrimination against this group
of people is manifested in the different regions.

Meanwhile, the participants noted with deep concern that the Working-Group
met in the absence of two experts namely its members from Latin America and
Western European and Others Group. Of particular concern was the fact that
the Western European and Others Group did not yet nominate an expert to
membership of the Working-Group. Taking into account the volume and
complexity of the work to be accomplished by the Working-Group in its
efforts to address the dramatic situation faced by people of African
descent, the Working Group called upon the Western European and Others Group
to appoint an expert to its membership before its next session to be held in
February 2003.

Geneva, Palais des Nations, 29th November 2002

WORKING GROUP ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT
>
> The Working-Group is composed of 5 independent experts ... representing
> the five UN regions i.e. Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and
> Caribbean and Western European and Others Group.
>>
> Geneva, Palais des Nations, 29th November ?2002
>
> For Further information please contact:
> 1. Mr. Conteh Brima, 0033 6 75519998, [email protected]
> 2. Ms. Raushana Karriem, 001 770 969 44 48 [email protected]
> 3. Ms. Dorothy Lewis, 001 301 279 92 35, [email protected]
> 4. Ms. Fanta Kaba, [email protected]