A/HRC/18/AC.3/2 5. The discussion on the situation currently faced by people of African descent will have a special focus on the right to food and on poverty rates. The World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals call for cutting hunger and extreme poverty, two related concepts, by half by 2015. Many Afro-descendant communities still suffer from malnutrition and food insecurity not because of lack of food, but of poverty. Over the next five years, there will be a need for measures to reduce poverty and eradicate hunger affecting people of African descent. 6. Positive action is recognized as a key element in the international struggle against racism and racial discrimination in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and in the Outcome Document of the Durban Review Conference. Furthermore, the concept of positive measures is accepted by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and was further examined by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination in its general recommendation 32. The aim of positive measures it to create conditions for all to participate effectively in decision-making and to realize civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights in all spheres of life on the basis of non-discrimination. In areas such as employment, housing, education, culture and participation in public life, however, people of African descent often face discriminatory treatment. Positive action policies have been implemented in various countries, particularly with regard to employment in the public sector and education, and have shown to be an effective and often necessary tool to reach de facto equality in those areas for people of African descent. 7. The contribution made by people of African descent to global development often goes unrecognized. Scientists and economists of African descend, such as Philip Emeagwali, who contributed to the invention of the Internet, Lewis Latimer, who helped develop the electric light bulb, and Sir William Arthur Lewis, who developed important theories on economic development, have contributed greatly to social progress and global development, but their names often remain widely unknown. 8. The history of people of African descent goes back through the Atlantic slave trade and migration to the African continent. The population of people of African origin, living all over the world, though predominantly in North and Latin America and the Caribbean, is very ethnically mixed. Africans of the diaspora have brought and preserved traditions from the African continent and have generated unique and dynamic cultures. African descendants have contributed to the cultural development in their countries in areas such as language, music, literature and the visual arts. Owing to years of segregation and racial discrimination, however, the traditions and culture of people of African descent have often developed separately and remain today little known by a large part of the population and unreflected in many educational curricula. 9. The Working Group will discuss the above phenomena and draft conclusions and recommendations that seek to address the ongoing challenges faced by people of African descent. 3