Flashback: Shots from Second Session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent (May 30-June 2, 2023)
The historic Second Session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States of America (USA) from May 30 to June 2, 2023.
The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, gave the opening remarks in which he noted that people of African descent have endured more than 500 years of systematic discrimination and hardship.
He said that racism and xenophobia continue to spoil our communities, stressing that the hatred and violence that people of African descent experience persist.
He, therefore, demanded collective efforts to eradicate racial violence in all its forms.
He pointed to persisting oppressive and racially violent incarceration systems, inequalities in access to healthcare and exclusion from the workforce, insisting that “we must do away with these inhumane and shameful inheritances, and we must do it now.”
The President noted further that the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent, which Second Session opened with a musical, dance and folklore performance by the non-profit Batoto Yetu – which was created in Harlem in 1990, serves a critical purpose.
Batoto Yetu takes its name from the Swahili words for “our children”.
The Permanent Forum on People of African Descent was established pursuant to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 75/314 to serve 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.
The theme of the Second Session of the Forum was Realizing the Dream: A United Nations Declaration on the Promotion, Protection, and Full Respect of the Human Rights of People of African descent.
The President of the Forum is the Honorable Epsy Campbell Barr, former First Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica.
On the final day of the Second Session, Friday, 2 June 2023, a Special Press Breakfast was held to Answer Questions about the Forum, and Present the Results and Decisions of the Session at the Eastern Time Orange Café, 5th Floor, United Nations Population Fund Headquarters, 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 United States of America.
Pictures here by JOHN OKO NYAKU show some of the moments of the Second Forum.
