A/HRC/45/47
on its implementation by the to the Council at its forty-fifth session and to the General
Assembly at its seventy-fifth session.11
13.
In that regard, and given the current international context, all States should see the
twentieth anniversary as an opportunity to reiterate their support for the Durban Declaration
and Programme of Action and renew their efforts to implement the comprehensive
Programme of Action. Greater support for the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
would also engender greater cooperation and synergies for implementing the programme of
activities for the Decade. Since 2001, OHCHR has supported the implementation of the
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action in several ways, for example through the four
follow-up mechanisms, and it will continue to provide substantive and technical support in
order to eradicate all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, including against people of African descent, in all regions.
C.
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and people of African
descent
14.
Both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development12 and the International Decade
for People of African Descent commenced in 2015. Both provide a mutually reinforcing
framework that can assist in overcoming the historically rooted, systemic and structural
discrimination experienced by people of African descent around the world. The prohibition
of racism is reiterated several times in the 2030 Agenda,13 and targets 10.2 and 17.18 of the
Sustainable Development Goals refer to data disaggregated by race.
15.
The right to development of people of African descent, a crucial part of the overall
theme for the Decade (“People of African descent: recognition, justice and development”),
is very relevant, particularly in relation to Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 10, 13, 16
and 17. In the programme of activities too States are called upon to remove all obstacles that
prevent the equal enjoyment by people of African descent of all human rights, economic,
social, cultural, civil and political, including the right to development. 14
16.
While there is no specific reference to people of African descent in the 2030 Agenda,
the three pillars of the theme for the Decade – recognition, justice and development – all have
strong links to the Declaration on the Right to Development.15 The 2030 Agenda should be
implemented in conjunction with other existing commitments to improve the lives of people
of African descent and to guide States, people of African descent, the United Nations system,
regional organizations and other stakeholders and partners with a view to achieving all of the
Goals.
17.
OHCHR is assisting the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent in
the development of operational guidelines on the inclusion of people of African descent in
the 2030 Agenda. That document will serve as a tool to assist United Nations country teams,
Member States, financial and development institutions and all interested stakeholders in
implementing the Sustainable Development Goals while paying specific attention to people
of African descent.
D.
Systemic and structural racism, including racial discrimination in law
enforcement and racial profiling
18.
Notwithstanding the proclamation of the Decade in 2015 and some efforts around the
world to improve the situation of human rights, people of African descent everywhere
continue to experience poor access to health care, inadequate education, limited employment
prospects, discrimination in housing, ill-treatment by public authorities and officials,
restrictions on their civil and political rights, disproportionate levels of violence by law
11
12
13
14
15
4
Human Rights Council resolution 42/29, para. 16.
General Assembly resolution 70/1.
Ibid., paras. 8, 19 and 25.
Human Rights Council resolution 69/16, annex, para. 11 (a).
General Assembly resolution 41/128, annex.
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