ARCHIVED. Report: Agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality
Date: June 2021
Issued by: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rightsp
Presented: To the Human Rights Council’s forty-seventh session (21 June-9 July 2021)
Report symbol and Link: A/HRC/47/53 and A/HRC/47/CRP.1
Summary
The murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 and the ensuing mass protests worldwide marked a watershed in the fight against racism. In some countries, there is now broader acknowledgment of the systemic nature of the racism that affects the lives of Africans and people of African descent. There is also wider acceptance of the need to address the past in order to secure future conditions of life that uphold the dignity and rights of all. It is our collective duty to address these issues – immediately and everywhere.
Prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 43/1 and in recognition of the unprecedented opportunity for change, the present comprehensive report—to be read in conjunction with an accompanying conference room paper—presents an agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality.
The report is available in the six official languages at the link above, and in Portuguese here (unofficial translation). An unofficial translation of the Four-point Agenda Towards Transformative Change for Racial Justice and Equality, contained in the Annex to A/HRC/47/53, is also available in French and Spanish.
Learn more about the implementation of resolution 43/1.
Methodology
In the preparation of this report, UN Human Rights adhered strictly to the principles of independence, impartiality and objectivity, in accordance with our established methodology.
UN Human Rights sought the views of member States, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, UN entities, community members and groups, and other key stakeholders in response to a call for submissions (English). The Office also engaged with relevant Special Procedures mandate holders.
The voices of people of African descent who are victims of human rights violations and their families are central to the work.
Inputs received
1. Member States
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Argentina
1-2-3 - Bolivia
- Costa Rica
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13 - Cyprus
1-2-3 - Finland
- Guatemala
1-2-3-4-4_1-4_2-4_3-4_4-4_5-4_6-4_7 - Mexico
- Sweden
- Ukraine
- United States
2. Additional Responses by Member States
- Brazil
1-2-3-4-5 - France
- United Kingdom
- United States
3. Intergovernmental Organisations
- Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
- ECRI (European Commission against Racism and Intolerance of the Council of Europe)
- European Union
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
4. National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs)
- Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos México (CNDH México)
1-2 - Defensoría del Pueblo Bolivia
1-2 - Defensoría de los Habitantes Costa Rica
1-2-3 - Defensoría del Pueblo Ecuador
- Defensoría del Pueblo Panamá
- Institución Nacional de Derechos Humanos y Defensoría del Pueblo de Uruguay
- Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de El Salvador
- Procurador de los Derechos Humanos Guatemala
5. United Nations bodies and specialized agencies
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- Working Group on discrimination against women and girls (WGDAW)
- UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK)
6. Non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders
- Access to Justice Knowledge Hub for Fair Participation
- Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
- Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture (ACAT)
- Advocates for Human Rights
- Africans in America for Restitution and Repatriation/Kha-Nu National Community
- African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (ANSPAD)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16 - Amelia Carter
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- American Civil Liberties Union New York
- American Civil Liberties Union Oregon
- American Muslim Bar Association
- Amit Anand and Preethi Lolaksha Nagaveni
- Andy and Gwen Stern Community Lawyering Clinic and American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and additional document
- Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and annex
- Athletes United for Peace
- Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities
- Black Legal Action Centre
- Black Protest Legal Support UK
- Black Sex Worker Collective and Best Practices Policy Project and the Outlaw Project and Desiree Alliance and New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance
- Center for Reproductive Rights and the National Birth Equity Collaborative
- Centre Suisse pour la Défense des Droits des Migrants (CSDM)
- Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) and Diáspora Africana de la Argentina (DIAFAR)
- Cheryl Sterling
- Coalición indígena de migrantes de Chiapas and Proyecto Afrodescedencia Mexico and Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración A.C. (IMUMI)
- Committee to Protect Journalists
- Conectas Direitos Humanos
- Conflict Scholars Collective for Healing and Racial Reconciliation
- Convention Against Torture Initiative (CTI)
- Cristosal
- Disability Rights Ohio
- Forensic Architecture and Bellingcat
- Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School
- Harm Reduction International and Release
- HERE4Justice
- HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation
- Hogan Lovells
- Human Rights First
- Human Rights Watch (HRW)
- Ilex Acción Jurídica
- Iniciativa Direito à Memória e Justiça Racial (DMJ)
- INQUEST
- Intel Corporation
- International Commission of Inquiry
- International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G)
- International Human Rights Clinic at Santa Clara University School of Law
- International Human Rights Council
- International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO)
- International Service for Human Rights, Le Comité Adama, et l’Association A Qui Le Tour ?
- Julia Wright for The Campaign To Bring Mumia Home and International Concerned Family and Friends for Mumia Abu-Jamal
- Justicia Racial
- Kilómetro Cero
- LatinoJustice PRLDEF
1-2 - Maat association for Peace, Development and Human Rights
- Marc Brenman
- Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network
- Dr. Michael McEachrane, Visiting Researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Co-founder of the European Network of People of African Descent (ENPAD) and Board Member of Black Lives Matter Sweden (BLMSWE)
- Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB)
- Mothers of Still Incarcerated Chicago Police Torture Survivors and Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity (MAMAS) and Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST) and the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) People of African Descent Working Group
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. (LDF)
- National Jericho Movement to Free all Political Prisoners and The US Human Rights Network (USHRN) People of African Descent Working Group
- National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Chicago and the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Illinois at Chicago John Marshall Law School
- ONG Ascendances Afro Océan Indien
- Organización de Mujeres Afrodescendientes de Bluefields, (OMAN), la Alianza de Pueblos Indígenas y Afrodescendientes de Nicaragua (APIAN) y el Gobierno Comunal Creole de Bluefields (GCCB)
- Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)
- Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA)
- Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)
- Race Equality First
- Rainbow Push Coalition
- Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas Afrocaribeñas y de la Diaspora Capítulo Mexico and Proyecto Afrodescendencia Mexico
- Rede Nacional de Mulheres Negras no Combate á Violência
- Rev. Dr. Robert Turner (Historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church)
- Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC)
- The Movement for Black Lives
- The Talking Drum Incorporated
- Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law and on behalf of the Michael O.D. Brown “We Love Our Sons & Daughters” Foundation
- Transitional Justice Institute and Law School Ulster University and Mitchell Institute and The Centre for Documentary Research QUB
- Ubuntu Institute for Community Development
- United African Organization and USHRN (US Human Rights Network) People of African Descent Working Group
- United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA)
- US Human Rights Network (USHRN)
- University of Minnesota Human Rights Program
- University of Southern California Gould School of Law International Human Rights Clinic and Access Now with the support of Foley Hoag LLP
- US Human Rights Network (USHRN) People of African Descent Working Group
- WITNESS
- Women’s All Points Bulletin (WAPB)
- Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center