The Permanent Forum on People of African Descent will hold its second session from 30 May to 2 June 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City (United States of America). Over a thousand participants are expected at this second session organized under the theme: “Realizing the Dream: A UN Declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent”.
The plenary session will begin at 10 a.m. on Tuesday 30 May with a cultural performance, followed by a high-level segment, and a general debate.
The thematic discussions will start in the afternoon and will focus on human rights concerns of people of African descent on issues such as global reparatory justice; Pan-Africanism for dignity, justice, and peace; transnational migration; recognizing and addressing systemic and structural racism through a data-driven and evidence-based approach; and health, well-being, and intergenerational trauma. Discussions on these thematic issues are aimed at contributing to the process of elaborating a UN Declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent.
Several special and side events are also expected to take place in person or virtually to expand the discussions beyond the plenary session. This second session will be webcast live via UN Web TV. The list of all official meetings and special and side events of this second session is available here: https://africandescentforumsession2.sched.com/
On the last day of the session, the members of the Permanent Forum are expected to present their preliminary conclusions and recommendations of thesecond session based on discussions held.
The report of the first and the second sessions of the Permanent Forum will be presented to the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council and the 78th session of the UN General Assembly which will begin in September 2023.
The Permanent Forum was established in August 2021 by the General Assembly as a consultative mechanism for people of African descent. The Permanent Forum is composed of 10 experts whose primary goal is to contribute to the inclusion of people of African descent in their societies without any kind of discrimination.
