A/HRC/31/75 16. Mr. Ugochukwu also presented an overview of migration policies and the promotion of intra-African migration and labour mobility. He made a number of recommendations, such as the introduction of effective laws and remedies for victims; better economic integration; community counselling; improved statistics; and the promotion of intercultural community life. 17. Finally, Mr. Ugochukwu presented an action plan for the implementation of the Decade. The plan foresaw the establishment of a strategic working group under the auspices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; and a strong link to economic policies to boost trade, investment, migration and labour mobility. He also suggested the convening of a world congress for people of African descent in 2016 and the creation of a Marshall Plan for peoples of African descent. 18. Ms. Davies made a presentation on Haiti: landscape, nation and living on the fault lines of the African diaspora. She said that the important iconic history of Haiti, as the first place where black resistance to enslavement became manifest as black freedom, provided a way of looking at the contradictory history of the experience of people of African descent worldwide. This contradictory history of Haiti, which produced today’s poorest country in the Western hemisphere, is set against a history of glory and transcendence. She said that in many ways, therefore, Haiti had become an important and extreme representation of “the black condition”. The country had, on the one hand, a past of dignity and legendary greatness and, on the other, the starkness of its initial history of dispossession and economic difficulty. This history had been brought on sometimes by horrendous leadership, often in collusion with external actors, as well as environment, climate and location, but through it all the people of Haiti had shown amazing resilience, matched by their outstanding creativity. She then presented information about the Caribbean Studies Association Annual Conference that would be held in Haiti from 5 to 11 June 2016, and stressed the important and necessary involvement of the United Nations at the Conference, through the International Decade for People of African Descent. 19. Mr. Boychenko gave a presentation on the activities undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in relation to the implementation of the activities under the Decade. He noted that people of African descent comprised a heterogeneous group with diverse histories, experiences and identities. The circumstances in which they lived and the problems they faced differed from country to country and from region to region. There were around 200 million people of African descent living in the Americas and many millions more on the other continents. Whether as descendants of the victims of the slave trade or as more recent migrants, they faced a series of global crosscutting issues that must be addressed. 20. Mr. Boychecko pointed out that the International Decade for People of African Descent provided an occasion to promote greater knowledge, value and respect for achievements of people of African descent and their contributions to humanity. The Decade will strengthen action to dismantle the many obstacles encountered by millions of people around the world. The General Assembly, by its resolution 69/16 of 18 November 2014, adopted the programme of activities for the implementation of the Decade. In the resolution, the Assembly identified the objectives for the Decade, provided an overview of the situation of people of African descent in the world and recommended activities to be carried out. 21. Mr. Boychecko noted that the General Assembly, in the programme of activities, had set out specific actions that relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes should undertake in pursuit of the objectives of the Decade. To implement the programme of activities for the Decade, the Office and other United Nations entities had undertaken activities in the following areas: 6