The UN Secretary-General has called for global action to “vanquish racism and discrimination” towards people of African descent, in his message marking the international day highlighting the diaspora.
The UN-appointed independent human rights expert on racism and xenophobia said on Tuesday that the United States is suffering a form of “selective amnesia” when it comes to “enduring systemic racism”.
Special Rapporteur Ashwini K.P. has just finished a 14-day fact finding mission across the US where she had conversations with marginalized groups from Black, Brown, and Latino communities and lawmakers, among others.
Police and criminal justice systems in the United States require urgent reform to eradicate “systemic racism” against people of African descent, UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Thursday.
For Valdecir Nascimento, 63, the Black movement in Brazil was a “turning point” for her as a young woman, leading her from the revolutionary stilt houses in Alagados, to joining more than 1,000 participants last week at UN Headquarters for the second session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
This week the UN hosts the 2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent – the human rights platform which brings together institutions at the UN, civil society and others, to advance equality and fight racism.
The Forum’s Chair, Epsy Campbell Barr, said it was vital to boost investment to help the poorest of the poor, and meet “elemental demands” for basic services like clean water.
She spoke to UN News’s Pauline Batista in our studio at UN Headquarters in New York.
Independent UN human rights experts on Friday expressed grave concern over the deaths early last month of two young Black men in the United States, at the hands of police officers.
Racism in the United Kingdom is “structural, institutional and systemic”, independent UN human rights experts said on Friday, warning that people of African descent in the country continue to encounter discrimination and erosion of their fundamental rights.
Racism and discrimination against children based on their ethnicity, language and religion, are rife in countries across the world, according to a new report by the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, ahead of World Children’s Day on Sunday.
