The Permanent Forum on People of African Descent should ensure inclusive participation of representatives from United Nations member states, civil society, academia and other relevant stakeholders in the implementation of IDPAD’s programme of activities. In that regard the Permanent Forum could take the form of a consultation mechanism provided by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent or the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, in accordance with paragraph 29 (i) of UN General Assembly Resolution 69/16. It is therefore imperative that the Permanent Forum’s format follows up on the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action as well as the International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in its activities.
For further information on the work of the WGEPAD with civil society and other stakeholders,
e-mail: africandescent@ohchr.org .
The attached written submission was made to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with reference to Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/47/21 of 13 July 2021, entitled “Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers through transformative change for racial justice and equality”. In that regard, the OHCHR refers Res. A/HRC/47/53 and its accompanying conference room paper A/HRC/47/CRP.1.
"Operative paragraph 15 of Human Rights Council resolution 47/21 requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a written report, on an annual basis, and to present it to the Human Rights Council, starting from its fifty-first session, scheduled to take place in September 2022. In order to inform the preparation of this latest report, information concerning “systemic racism, violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, to contribute to accountability and redress,” in line with operative paragraph 14 of the aforementioned resolution has been gathered by OHCHR. Further, as provided by operative paragraph 14, information regarding “further action [taken] globally towards transformative change for racial justice and equality” has also been requested for inclusion in OHCHR's forthcoming report.
Reference to the Four-Point Agenda Towards Transformative Change for Racial Justice and Equality, contained in the Annex of the High Commissioner’s report A/HRC/47/53 was encouraged, as well as an update with regard to the implementation of the 20 recommendations organised under the four points of the Agenda Towards Transformative Change. In particular, information concerning laws, regulations, policies and all other relevant measures, as well as promising practices, initiatives, challenges and lessons learned was sought, in addition to information regarding the situation and perspectives of women and children of African descent, and of African women and children, as well as other relevant gender dimensions and intersectional analyses.
Background
“School to prison pipelines” perpetuate racist White supremacist intergenerational criminalization and exclusion of Afrikans (Africans and people of African descent) from universal human rights. For example,
“Over the last three decades, research has shown that even when controlling for income level, Black students were four times more likely to be suspended than their white peers during the 2017-18 academic year (They) are also more likely to attend schools with law enforcement and significant security measures on campus, and were twice as likely to be referred or arrested than their white peers in 2018-19 (...) the school-to-prison pipeline such disproportionality begets—has been attributed to biases, implicit or otherwise, that school officials may carry into the schoolhouse” (State of California 2021, p.215- 216).
School to prison pipelines are also found in Europe.
“Adults and children of African descent are increasingly vulnerable when held in police custody, with numerous incidents of violence and deaths recorded, having regard to the routine use of racial profiling, discriminatory stop‑and‑search practices and surveillance in the context of abuse of power in law enforcement, crime prevention, counter-terrorism measures, or immigration control” (European Parliament, 2019).
According to a report broadcast Black Talk Radio Network on 20 March 2022, an Afrikan youth “Child Q” was subjected to an unjustified and traumatising intimate strip-search by the UK’s Metropolitan Police in 2020, following schoolteachers’ allegations that she smelt of cannabis, and was suspected to be carrying drugs. The International Decade for people of African Descent (IDPAD)’s thematic objectives of recognition, justice, and development, can be employed to advocate remedies and redress as interventions to achieve reparatory justice where White supremacist hegemony persists.
Background
Article 3.2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 asserts,
“State Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures” (OHCHR, 1989). In that regard, UNICEF has identified three major potential secondary impacts on minors (children aged 17 and under) and their caregivers in terms of child protection, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: i) neglect and lack of parental care; ii) mental health and psychosocial distress; and iii) increased exposure to violence, including sexual violence, physical and emotional abuse. Afrikan minors are more vulnerable to breaches of international human rights norms, as poverty rates have risen from 10% to 20% in some African Union (AU) countries. For example, reports allege the pandemic has disproportionately fuelled increased incidences of Afrikan child labour and child marriages as a result of poverty; and according to the Global March Against Child Labour, 92 million African minors were engaged in child labour in 2021. This written submission highlights these breaches of the Convention, in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with reference to the Abidjan Principles on the Right to Education 2019, for good practice and recommendations.
ABSTRACT
Afrophobia marginalises people of African descent from access to universal human rights in neoliberal western democracies; I therefore advocate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to “integrate (universal) human rights into national priorities where inadequacies exist in policy interventions,” (UNGA, 2016, p.11). Implementation of targets for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can enable an inclusive, dynamic, and holistic human rights approaches to social, economic, and environmental development of our communities. Notably, SDG 10 of the 2030 Agenda aims to reduce inequality within and between countries, on the grounds of race or ethnicity, and other protected characteristics. I therefore advocate state parties implement SDG Target 10.3, “to ensure equal opportunity (…) by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and actions”. This can facilitate achieving interventions that specifically address Afrophobia, such as the International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD) 2015 -2024. The central research question queries, can people of African descent better fulfil universal human rights, where state parties implement the 2030 Agenda to achieve IDPAD’s thematic objectives of recognition, justice, and development? With this in mind, the Research Design and Methodology detail what the research is about, the methodology used and why, as well as how the methodology and methods link to conduct of research; e.g. strategies and tactics for data collection and analysis, such as summaries of case studies on policy interventions that address Afrophobia. The substantive aim of the research project is to empower African diaspora communities to better fulfil universal human rights, by critically analysing and evaluating implementation of anti-racism norms and policies. The methodological aim is to interpret and create new and original knowledge for understanding and critical evaluation, of public bodies’ impact in reducing Afrophobia, within the normative framework of the 2030 Agenda. Although people of African descent amount to approximately 8 million in Europe, we remain disproportionately marginalised in access to universal human rights, (Farkas, 2017). Strategic interventions to combat Afrophobia, are therefore required of European signatories to the International Convention for the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) 1965. For the purposes of this project, the phrase ‘people of African descent’ is used interchangeably with Black people, African diaspora, and Africans, and includes African immigrants and the descendants of African immigrants, including Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and similar historical contexts. As the majority of E-Team members including myself self-identify as African or Afro-descendant, this scholarly work is auto-ethnographic due to our shared ethnicity and common experiences of systemic racism with other researchers, academics, and people of African descent globally.
ABSTRACT
This doctoral research project critically analyses multilevel multi-stakeholder claims of systemic racism, which marginalises and excludes people of African descent from universal human rights. In that regard, this autoethnographic research defines people of African descent, as the African diaspora, Africans, Afro-descendants, and Black people, specifically referring to descendants of historically enslaved and colonised Africans, as well as subsequent migrations from the African continent. Essed (2014, p.59) claims Afro-Europeans experience systemic racism and discrimination, regardless of country, socio-economic conditions, gender, age, or level of education, although significant numbers are well integrated into European society. Afrophobia/Afriphobia can therefore be defined as specific forms of systemic racism and structural discrimination which target people of African descent, manifested by acts of direct, indirect, and structural racial discrimination and violence including hate speech, Momodou and Pascoet (2014, pp.262-263). Afrophobia hinders Africans and Afro-descendants in Europe from fulfilling universal human rights equally, generally, and globally in accordance with the Vienna Declaration 1993. Empirical evidence gathered from desk and field research in this project adequately warrants the argument, that we remain marginalised from equal access to universal human rights. With this in mind, my thesis’ central research question is, can the African diaspora better fulfil universal human rights, where the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is implemented to achieve the International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD)’s thematic objectives? Implementation of Targets for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must facilitate achievement of IDPAD’s thematic objectives of recognition, justice, and development; e.g. policymakers must reduce inequality on the grounds of race or ethnicity, within and between countries as stipulated in SDG 10, to strategically address Afrophobia.
The attached systematic literature review has the primary goal of critical evaluating European anti-racism norms and policies, to strategically address Afrophobia. Systematic review of academic sources highlights the chronological development of theoretical concepts relevant to the implementation and evaluation of anti-racism norms. For example, my background theory demonstrates Critical Race Theory (CRT) in defining and interpreting legal concepts such as race and racism. However, recognizing the vast transdisciplinary body of scholarship theorizing CRT since it emerged in the 1980s, my primary focus is its application as a radical lens with which to interrogate European law. This eliminates research bias by primarily employing academic sources that theorize normative concepts, to interpret and create new and original knowledge that advocates IDPAD’s thematic objectives and SDGs. The literature review therefore seeks to inform the reader on legal concepts, in the context of the 2030 Agenda and IDPAD’s thematic objectives, by strategically engaging the lens of CRT to interrogate implementation of anti-racism norms. This acknowledges that, “Responding to race-based material disparities that persisted in the United States even after 1960s (…) legal scholars and activists in the 1970s developed CRT as a framework to challenge the deep-rooted philosophical, legal, systemic, and practical causes of racism (…) CRT has intellectual roots in critical theory, which examines the role of power, history, culture, and ideology on social phenomena, often with an eye to critiquing or correcting abuses of power. But CRT’s laser-focus on matters of race has led it to develop its own language and concepts” (Ogbonnaya-Ogburu, 2020, pp. 2-3). I argue IDPAD’s thematic objective of recognition entails awareness of inequalities in our access to universal human rights in relation to the normative framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For example, SDG Target 10.2 aspires to empower and promote social, economic, and political inclusion for all irrespective of race, ethnicity, origin, or other status by 2030; whereas SDG Target 10.3 asserts implementation of anti-racism norms and policies. Similarly, SDG 16 acknowledges the importance of achieving social justice and systemic justice in the context of justice as a thematic objective of IDPAD. Moreover it will be highlighted that collaboration in global partnerships as asserted by SDG 17, should imperatively employ fully disaggregated statistical equality data, to monitor and eliminate Afrophobia in achieving the three pillars of sustainability, i.e. social, economic and environmental development.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Impact on human rights
On 19 June 2020, 300, 717 confirmed infections and 42, 238 fatalities from COVID-19 were recorded in the UK (JHU Coronavirus Resource Center, 2020).
• The UK’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidelines provides guidance to the general populace on social distancing, self-isolation, shielding etc, to curtail adverse impacts of the pandemic. Legal measures are implemented by the state party to respect, protect, and fulfil universal human rights for the general populace, by reducing opportunities for transmission and infection, (Legislation.gov.uk, 1984) and (Legislation.gov.uk, 2020b). Nonetheless, the government’s Disparity Review 2020 highlights COVID-19 infection and fatality rates are disproportionately higher for people of African descent in the UK than their white counterparts, (Public Health England, 2020).
Reports of racial discrimination by law enforcement associated with alleged breaches of lockdown guidelines also highlight systemic racism in meeting statutory obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. For example, people of African descent in the UK have disproportionately lower educational attainment levels, higher rates of unemployment and incarceration by law enforcement, and poorer housing opportunities which all impact negatively as social determinants of (ill) health.
• Provisions of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, and Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020, required general lockdown of the public, private and voluntary sectors which begun to be lifted in June 2020. Police constabularies have legal powers to arrest and fine individuals breaching restrictions for conducting business, employment, or education in potentially infected premises, public conveyance, international travel, and disposal of dead bodies, (Legislation.gov.uk, 1984) and (Legislation.gov.uk, 2020b).
c) Some measures are proportional, e.g. reduced COVID-19 transmission, infection, and fatality rates result from social distancing, but others contribute to further social conflict.
d) Lockdown measures adversely impact low-income groups, e.g. people of African descent in informal or temporary employment, and immigrants. These groups generally have little or no recourse to government funds otherwise available.
• Fiscal austerity following the 2008 recession is likely to be exacerbated by the economic downturn associated with the pandemic, and adversely impact human rights of vulnerable groups. Moreover, private sector organisations have been badly affected, resulting in the loss of over half a million jobs in the UK since the beginning of the pandemic, which adversely impacts access to second generation rights. Nonetheless there has been movement towards policy solutions, including the national government’s proposed Race Inequality Commission, and the City of Bristol’s advocacy of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for inclusive post COVID-19 recovery planning.
• Long-term impacts of the pandemic and response measures are expected to exacerbate socioeconomic marginalisation of vulnerable groups, especially where intersectionality occurs. Thought leaders have therefore already begun to adopt a proactive stance towards post COVID-19 recovery planning.
• National economic recovery and financial assistance mechanisms are unlikely to reduce the socioeconomic impact of lockdown measures adopted, where they were not previously subjected to human rights impact assessments. There has been movement in that direction, e.g. risk assessments of vulnerable staff, (NHS England and NHS Improvement coronavirus, 2020).
INTRODUCTION
In a recent BBC radio interview, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated, “global problems need global solutions (…) the only way out of the fiscal crisis is through global action.” This addendum summarizes the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, in relation to achievement of IDPAD’s thematic objectives, and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to reduce inequality within and between countries. The impact of COVID-19 otherwise known as novel coronavirus, highlights Afrophobia/Afriphobia within the UN OHCHR Region of Europe, Central Asia, and North America. Rojas Davila (in Carneiro, 2018, pp.11-12) considers it “fundamental to perceive IDPAD as the perfect opportunity to debate racism (…) repositioning the question of race at the centre of the regional agenda on human rights”. Wilson (2017, pp.432-433) also argues, it is essential to re-centre race in dominant discourses challenging inequality and racialization of material development processes for the achievement of the SDGs.
According to John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre, countries within this Region are amongst those with the highest mortality or case fatality rates for novel coronavirus, which reflects the number of deaths in a population divided by the number of confirmed cases. Notably Belgium (13.4%), Italy (13%) and the UK (12.8%) had the highest COVID-19 mortality rates in April 2020. Moreover, Afrikan communities are statistically shown to be disproportionately affected. For example, In New York which is deemed to be the epicentre of the global pandemic, of 90 % state-wide reporting, 18 % of deaths have been Black people, who account for only 9 % of the state’s population. In New York City with 65% reporting, 28 % of deaths have been Black people, who account for 22 % of the urbanism’s population, (Cineas, 2020). In Illinois, Black people were 42 % of fatalities but are only 14.6 % of the state’s population; whilst in the city of Chicago, we represented approximately 70 % fatalities and more than 50 % of cases but are approximately 30 % of the urbanism’s total population” (Cineas, 2020). Similarly, the mortality rate for Black people in Louisiana was more than 70 %, whereas the state population is approximately 33 % PAD.
UK statistics also highlight disproportionately high COVID-19 infection rates amongst Black people in British urbanisms with sizeable Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) populations, such as Birmingham and the London Borough of Brent. “The issue of race is (therefore) central to tackling the virus and without a purposeful, intersectional approach centring on BAME communities, the current outbreak will lead to severe consequences and further entrench racial inequalities” (BSWN, 2020). In that regard, the International Coalition of People of African Descent (ICPAD) facilitated knowledge exchange on the impact of the deadly coronavirus pandemic on Afrikan (African diaspora) communities globally. These narratives give agency to invisible Afrikan communities, that enables IDPAD’s achievements and challenges to be shared and amplified across different structures and processes, e.g. with reference to the International Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) 1965, and Durban Declaration and Plan of Action (DDPA) 2001.
The International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD) 2015-2024 was launched at United Nations Headquarters, New York in September 2014, by representatives of UN member states, international civil society and other stakeholders. This report briefly summarizes achievements made in the UN OHCHR Region of Europe, Central Asia, and North America, during the first five years of the decade, despite global challenges of fiscal austerity and rising nationalist populism faced by the African diaspora. For expediency’s sake I have chosen section headings according to IDPAD’s thematic objectives of recognition, justice and development. I discuss briefly achievements made at the regional, national, and local level. For example, the role of successful collaborations between European public bodies and civil society, to achieve justice at the regional level is highlighted; in contrast only a handful of state parties have implemented national action plans for IDPAD’s Programme of Action. At the local level, I focus on the African diaspora’s experience of IDPAD in the city of Bristol, which coincidentally was awarded European Green Capital in 2015. In 2016, Marvin Rees, reportedly became the first elected Black Mayor of a British city. The city’s administration includes other leaders of African descent including the Queen’s Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, Mrs Peaches Golding O.B.E., the former Lord Mayor Cllr Cleo Lake, and the Deputy Mayor Cllr Asher Craig. These and other civic leaders have been made aware of, and to varying degrees have included IDPAD's thematic objectives in their mandate for local policy development.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this postgraduate dissertation is to define and critically analyse structural barriers which prevent people of African descent globally from fulfilling their universal human rights. The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 explicitly states that universal human rights should be enjoyed equally by all individuals; and prohibits racial discrimination in their respect, promotion, protection and fulfilment. International and regional treaties including the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 1965 and the European Convention on Human Rights 1950/53 also champion the cause of race equality. My thesis argues that the codification of anti-discrimination legislation has not equated with accessibility to universal human rights for people of African descent in practice, e.g. governments do not realise state obligations equally.
The justification for this academic research includes celebration of the civil rights movement, whilst acknowledging the recent rise in xenophobia and anti-immigrant abuse within the European Union, and realises the need to address “Afrophobia” as a human rights issue. It therefore remains imperative that the international community remains alert to systemic racism, including structural discrimination and other forms of xenophobia, which persist despite the codification of international human rights treaties. In addition, this research shows sub-cultural minorities e.g. LGBT Africans, do not enjoy equal access to universal human rights, and the benefits of sustainable development.
The scope of this academic research is global, general and universal illustrating agreement with the indivisibility, interdependence and inter-relatedness of universal human rights proclaimed by the Vienna Convention of the United Nations twenty years ago. In this respect, the researcher’s role as auto-ethnographer relies on self-regarding and other-regarding humanistic research which highlights inequalities experienced by members of the African diaspora. The primary focus of my research therefore illustrates relationships between causal factors of structural discrimination including history, politics, etc., and the realisation of correlative state obligations which respect, protect and fulfil universal human rights.
The focus of my research is accessibility of universal human rights for people of African descent, with reference to UN Millennium Development Goals; and progress made achieving these standards, e.g. through poverty alleviation. I argue this remains adversely affected by structural discrimination, and include historical references of both a legislative and literary nature to argue my thesis. Moreover, I critically analyse targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ( formerly known as the Post 2015 Development Agenda), in relation to migration and social inclusion of Black people. To conclude, I state that despite increased codification of anti-discrimination laws globally, internationally and nationally race inequality still persists.
THE ABOVE DISSERTATION GAINED A DISTINCTION TOWARDS THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS (MERIT), BY THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND, IN 2014.
Participants at the UN OHCHR Regional Meeting for Europe, Central Asia and North America on IDPAD held between 23-24 November 2017 at the Palais des Nations, submitted a number of proposals for input in the meeting's Outcome Document including that developed and submitted by myself, as a Member of IDPAD Coalition UK.
This presentation made in Summer 2015, encapsulates a rights based approach to development primarily by focusing on issues affecting researchers, academic staff and students in UK higher education research institutions. I advocate recognition of the International Decade for People of African Descent; as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which seeks to achieve inclusive poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Dynamic policy initiatives to address disproportionately low levels of attainment in education, as well as recruitment, retention and progression of people of African descent in the UK, are illustrated here with recommendations. See also the related presentation made to the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent's meeting on good practice addressing racial stereotyping in education, health and other structural processes http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/33961.
Please find here the link to my research poster which was exhibited in the European Parliament during the Anti Racism and Diversity Intergroup's Roundtable on Ethnic Profiling in December 2016. http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/30599
PROPOSAL OF INTEREST
The central question addressed by my thesis is “what bridges can be built to address structural barriers which marginalise the African diaspora from fulfilling universal human rights?” I argue thematic objectives of the International Decade for People of African Descent can be linked to sustainable development goals (SDGs), e.g. by monitoring border controls for Afri-phobia / Afro-phobia. Achievement of SDG 10, reduce inequality within and among countries, is at the core of my qualitative research study. Civil society can play a vital role monitoring implementation of Target 10.3, “ensure equal opportunity (…) by eliminating discriminatory laws (…) and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard” (IAEG-SDGs: 2017). Global Monitoring Indicators 10.3.1 and 16.b.1 monitor “the proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against (…) on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law” (IAEG-SDGs: 2017). The scope of my study relies on the centrality of African experiences, perceptions and understanding as cognitive, structural and functional aspects, for interpreting and creating knowledge for critical evaluation specifically relevant to the African diaspora (Mazama: 2001).
With this in mind, I advocate Black Emancipatory Action Research’s theoretical and methodological approach, to researching the Black Mediterranean in Action. My study includes narratives on strategic policy interventions to address Afro-phobia; and desk research on outcomes of the Valletta Summit. Empirical findings of my research study therefore illustrate the relevance of the 2030 Agenda to IDPAD’s thematic objectives, for African migrants and African diaspora communities in Europe, cannot be understated. This event was hosted by the Black Studies Association in June 2017, at Birmingham City University in the United Kingdom, and brought together academics, activists, and other stakeholders to seek solutions to the ongoing crisis in the Mediterranean.
The presentation may be viewed here http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/32212
The link to the presentation is here http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/32887
