UN declares 2011 International Year for People of African Descent

The UN World Conference against Racism opened in Durban, South Africa. African states, Caribbean states, diaspora movements and NGOs brought slavery and colonialism into a major multilateral debate on...

The World Conference adopted the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. Paragraph 13 recognizes that slavery and the slave trade, particularly the transatlantic trade, are crimes against humanity...

The UN Commission on Human Rights established a dedicated expert body to study problems of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent and recommend measures. The institutional pathway...

The General Assembly adopted resolution 62/122, establishing 25 March as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade and calling for a permanent...

The first annual UN observance made the memory of enslaved Africans and the transatlantic trade part of the organization’s public calendar. Commemoration can challenge historical erasure, but...

The General Assembly held a high-level meeting on the tenth anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. The gathering renewed attention to racism, racial discrimination,...

At their 34th regular meeting, CARICOM Heads of Government mandated a regional commission and national committees to pursue reparatory justice for Indigenous and African-descended communities. The...

The General Assembly proclaimed 2015–2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent under the theme recognition, justice and development. The framework connected historical recognition...

CARICOM governments unanimously approved a ten-point plan proposed by the Reparations Commission. It links formal apology and repatriation with health, education, cultural institutions,...

CARICOM Heads of Government accepted a ten-point Caribbean Reparatory Justice Programme as a basis for further action. It called for a full formal apology and measures including education, health,...