Reparatory Justice reemphasized at Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Several Global African Diaspora delegates attended the third session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD3) at the April 16 to April 19, 2024 event holding at Palais des Nations of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Permanent Forum was in 2021 operationalized by the UN’s General Assembly as a consultative mechanism for people of African descent and other relevant stakeholders as a platform for improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent, as well as an advisory body to the Human Rights Council, in line with the programme of activities for the implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent and in close coordination with existing mechanisms.

At the event on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, during the side session on “Reparatory Justice: Implementing the African Article 3Q Constitutive Acts Towards the Full Participation of the Sixth Region African Diaspora & the Right to Return, in Concert of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action,” the Accra Proclamation on Reparations was recalled and reemphasized.

This was made known in a press release by the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council obtained by All Africa Media Network.

“Conference members call on the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, to convene, in close coordination with the African Union Commission, an Internation Conference, involving former colonial powers on the issue of reparations,” it was said in the release.

During the discussion, it was noted that the African Diaspora has two claims, “that the African Union recognizes the African Diaspora’s Right to return to their ancestral homeland, as stated in the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, and that the colonial powers take responsibility for the crimes against African and African people.”

It was therefore advised that the “forum utilize the AUADS High Council as the AU 6th Region/Diaspora Civil Society partner in planning the conference with the AU Commission.”

The PFPAD3 Chair, Dr. June Soomeer also received statement from the expert-side session on the Accra Proclamation from Dr. Barryl Biekman, the founder of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group-Europe (AUADSFWG). Soomer also received congratulatory greetings from the President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Reverend Kobi Little.

The event was organized in cooperation with African Culture International Human Rights; the African Union African Diaspora 6th Region High Council Facilitators, among others.