“People of African descent are the children of surviving victims of the transatlantic slave trade and its subsequent migrations.” explains Pastor Elías Murillo Martínez, a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
In an interview with UN News, the independent expert adds that, from the point of view of political process and social construction, African descendants “are a group of individuals, families, peoples, communities, who share a history with society and culture. models. which distinguish them from other ethnic groups and which are governed in some countries in part or in whole by special legislation”.
Afro-descendants are part of many societies and their contributions to them are countless; however, they have suffered historical discrimination and marginalization that has placed them in a situation of systemic vulnerability and poverty.
Thus, only at the beginning of this century began to be recognized and included in the international agenda.
State and selflessness
This delay has to do with the role of the state and the historical weight of racism and discrimination, which has led to denial and, worse, self-denialwith all the complexity this entails.
According to UN figures, based on national censuses, in the Americas – not including the English-speaking Caribbean – for example, there are 200 million people who identify themselves as people of African descentan official number that underestimates the presence of this population.
“Loneliness is the deepest wound that slavery left on the free peoples of America.” laments Murillo Martinez.
However, he considers that the fact that these 200 million people are self-aware it is important because it is the result of a process of including the Afro-descendant variable in national censuses, which did not exist before 2000.
To promote the recognition of people of African descent as a specific group whose human rights should be promoted and protected, tThe UN General Assembly declared the period from January 2015 to December 2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent.
Three axes
The decade has focused its action plan on three axes: recognition, justice and development.
With just over two years before the end of the Decade, Murillo Martínez reviews the progress made:
“Recognition of African descendants as a collective subject of international law considered in the broadest sense. This recognition as a subject of international law and this statistical visibility, the self-recognition of African descendants, the manifestation of their collective action in the Decade has meant the possibility for an example of cohesion for collective action”, he asserts.
The expert also mentions the sensitivity at the level of countries and society as a whole, which reached a turning point after the killing of George Floyd in May 2020 in the United States, as well as the visibility of the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19. pandemic in the African descendant population. “The global rejection has shaken the collective consciousness and I would say that today the International Decade for People of African Descent and the combination of these factors that feed on each other constitute a very important advance in the level of recognition by states.” he said.
In terms of justice, he noted that many countries have made progressive progress in enacting ethnic recognition laws aimed at achieving equal opportunities containing affirmative measures in quotas.
Regarding the development, Murillo Martínez said it is far behind and that the challenges are great, as is evident in the social and economic indicators.
For this reason, he believes that in order for countries to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, they will have to implement measures “that remove the root causes of racism and racial discrimination against people of African descent”.
Another of the great achievements of the Decade is that it has stimulated debate, for example with the proclamation of the International Day for People of African Descent and the establishment of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
Repair
“At this stage of knowing people of African descent, there is no question today that we were victims of the transatlantic slave trade and continue to be victims of its consequences. How do we move forward with reparations? We must do it in three areas: moral reparation, spiritual reparation and material reparation.”.
In moral terms, it shows that the Holy See made a unilateral statement in 2016 committing to formulatein cooperation with the spokesmen of the African descendant population, a kind of papal encyclical acknowledging the role of the Catholic Church in the slave trade and transatlantic slavery.
Regarding spiritual reparations, he cites that countries are making progress in returning objects taken during the process of enslavement to the colony of African countries and people of African origin in various regions. For example, Belgium, France and Germany have set up reparations commissions that focus on spiritual and moral reparations, “but they should also move forward in the realm of material reparations.”he points out.
He also notes that several universities in the United States “have admitted that a large part of their wealth came from or benefited from the slave trade and transatlantic slavery, as Harvard University did just over a month ago from creating a reparations fund of approximately $100 million based on that recognition”.
The World Bank will also move forward with the creation of a fund for the development of African descendants in the category of material reparations.
As a member of the Forum, the expert presented other proposals:
“I have asked the Panamanian state to share, one, two, three days, an equal number of the fees they receive for the transit of the Panama Canal, so that the money goes to a reparation fund for African descendants, created by the Organization of States of America (OAS)with the aim that through this channel, countries, cities and other port companies in Latin America where there is an intersection between the Afro-descendant population, poverty and ports, can contribute to reparation funds at the national, regional or international level in favor of Afro- descendants”.
Triangular trade
Murillo Martínez recalls that enslaved people were brought from Africa to the Americas, where they generated wealth that went to Europe, giving rise to a triangular trade “which is the basis of capitalism today”.
For this reason, through the forum, he suggested implementation “a kind of sui generis free trade agreement” aims to redefine this triangular trade by recognizing the role of people of African descent, the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in this area and that, as part of the mechanisms of historical reparation, “tariff advantages and benefits should be given to the circulation of products and should to create development options, encouraging trade in the direction of historical compensation”.
A hidden reality until this century
Other groups and peoples have achieved recognition and justice before, why the delay in seeking justice and redress mechanisms in the case of African descendants?
“Before the conference in Santiago in 2000 and Durban in 2001, it was a hidden reality that flew under the radar. Latin American countries were protected in mestizaje and ignored the reality of diversity and the presence of African descendants. The invisibility and systematic and historical denial at the state level of the Afro-descendant population explains the delays we find in various fields, including their participation in international forums.
But the course is being corrected, he adds:Fortunately, we are moving in the right direction and that is the most important thing. We were not recognized as subjects of international law, today we are and the Permanent Forum is a reflection of progress in that direction”.
Another tangible achievement is the celebration of the International Day for People of African Descent, established by the UN General Assembly in December 2020. which honors the contributions of the African diaspora. This day will be celebrated for the first time on August 31, 2021.
Urging for a declaration on the rights of people of African descent
For this year’s commemoration, Pastor Elias Murillo Martinez invited “civil society, states and all stakeholders to join the UN, the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and the Intergovernmental Follow-up Group in Durban to move towards an international declaration on the rights of people of African descent”.
Such a declaration is already in process and discussions will begin next October, therefore the expert is convinced that it will be approved before the end of the International Decade.
“I am convinced, today more than ever, and this is my central messagethat the fight against racism and racial discrimination, especially with regard to people of African origin, is an irreversible and multiracial effort”, he concluded.
