NANHRI URGES COUNTRIES TO RATIFY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AND PRESENT RAPPORTS ON ITS IMPLEMENTATION ON TIME

The Network of African National Human Rights Institutions urged in a debate on the “Enjoyment of human rights of people of African descent”, on 2 March 2011 in Geneva, all countries to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination and make sure to present reports on its implementation on time.

The Network, chaired by the Advisory Council on Human Rights since 2009, urged States, African NHRIs and UN specialized agencies to implement, as a priority, the provisions pertaining to people of African descent in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the Outcome Document of the Durban Review Conference, as well as previous recommendations of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.

The African network supported, in intervention scheduled within the framework of the 16th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, from 28 February to 25 March 2011, the Working Group’s recommendation on the establishment within the OHCHR of an observatory to review and report on progress in the implementation by Member States and UN specialized agencies, as appropriate, of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the Outcome Document of the Durban Review Conference, as well as recommendations by the Durban follow-up mechanisms pertaining to people of African descent.

States need to earmark contributions to the Durban Fund (Trust Fund for the Programme of the Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination) to fund the participation of civil society, including relevant NGOs, in its sessions, the Network said.

The Network indicated that it “is conscious of the fact that structural discrimination against people of African descent has deep historic roots and manifests itself in a unique and multidimensional manner due to the double legacy of slavery and colonialism”. Therefore, it added, “it is imperative that States encourage self-identification by people of African descent, as a precondition to adequately addressing discrimination against them in all areas”. It confirmed that consequences of structural discrimination against people of African descent, even if such discrimination appears to be unintentional, can be as harmful as direct discrimination.

The Network of African National Human Rights Institutions called for the adoption of a holistic approach, encompassing education, healthcare, the administration of justice, employment and housing, to break the cycle of poverty, social, economic exclusion and marginalization in which the majority of people of African descent are trapped.

Interventions of some representatives of National Human Rights Institutions, international bodies and organizations and NGOs confirmed that there are still several problems related to the integration of people of African descent. They stressed that these people suffer from poverty, unemployment and marginalization, despite the fact that they have contributed to the enrichment of the cultures of countries in which they have lived. Discrimination sometimes goes without punishment, they said.

The participants made several recommendations, mainly:

- Need to change administrative practices, institutional systems and laws that include any form of discrimination against people of African descent

- Take several measures: include the ethnic dimension in development projects (positive discrimination), redistribute of wealth…

- Create a permanent forum in the UN for people of African descent

- Prepare a report on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in relation of people of African descent

- Institutionalize efforts made to fight discrimination against people of African descent

- Set-up indicators to measure efforts made to ensure equality and fight discrimination

- Find a way to eradicate or limit poverty in African countries, which resulted in immigration and human rights violations of people of African descent

- Include contents on the fight against implicit and explicit forms of discrimination in school curricula.