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STORY: UN / PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT
TRT: 03:16
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 NOVEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
08 NOVEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, conference room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Philémon Yang, President, General Assembly, United Nations:
“While we acknowledge the progress made over the past decade, we must not rest on our laurels. Much work remains. Ten years into this Decade, people of African descent still endure systemic racism and discrimination—realities rooted in the enduring legacies of enslavement and colonialism. We must confront and dismantle these legacies to ensure that people of African descent enjoy their full civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.”
4. Wide shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Philémon Yang, President, General Assembly, United Nations:
“Bold and urgent action is needed to secure for people of African descent the human rights and dignity to which they are entitled. As President of the General Assembly, I am firmly committed to advancing these rights. Our efforts toward recognition, justice, and development must extend beyond 2024, and I strongly support the consideration of a Second International Decade to sustain these goals.”
6. Wide shot, conference room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilze Brands Kehris Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, United Nations:
“History has shown us time and again how racism, discrimination and intolerance rocked the very foundations of our societies, attacking the core of a person's dignity, stripping people of opportunity, agency and rights, and weakening the bonds that connect us. People of African descent have lived this history for centuries. They have grappled with the legacies of enslavement, colonialism and other systems of oppression. Today, systemic racism and racial discrimination continue to permeate their lives and suffocate their communities. The damage can last for generations, and it will continue to grow and fester until we stop it collectively, decisively and definitively.”
8.Wide shot, delegates
9. Wide shot, Edna Liliana Valencia Murillo walks up to podium
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Edna Liliana Valencia Murillo, Journalist:
“Racism and I are big enemies. And I'm trying to make up for so many lost years. I no longer want to please this racist system. Oh, I wasn't afraid to point out the slaver. I don't hide my hair anymore nor do I want to go to those bars. I chose my career myself and claim the places that my eternal companion always wanted to deny me. Today I get what I want. I'm not going to give up today.”
11. Wide shot, Valencia Murillo walks away
General Assembly President Philémon Yang today (8 Nov) said ten years into International Decade for People of African Descent, “people of African descent still endure systemic racism and discrimination—realities rooted in the enduring legacies of enslavement and colonialism,” and expressed support for the consideration of a Second International Decade.
Addressing a High-Level Meeting to take stock of the progress and steps taken in the implementation of the programme of activities of the International Decade during the period 2015-2024, Yang said, “we must confront and dismantle these legacies to ensure that people of African descent enjoy their full civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.”
He said, “bold and urgent action is needed to secure for people of African descent the human rights and dignity to which they are entitled. As President of the General Assembly, I am firmly committed to advancing these rights,” adding that “efforts toward recognition, justice, and development must extend beyond 2024.”
Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris, speaking on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres said, “history has shown us time and again how racism, discrimination and intolerance rocked the very foundations of our societies, attacking the core of a person's dignity, stripping people of opportunity, agency and rights, and weakening the bonds that connect us.”
People of African descent, she said, “have lived this history for centuries,” and added that “today, systemic racism and racial discrimination continue to permeate their lives and suffocate their communities.”
Colombian journalist Edna Liliana Valencia Murillo read a poem from her book El Racismo y Yo (Racism and I). She said, “racism and I are big enemies. And I'm trying to make up for so many lost years. I no longer want to please this racist system. Oh, I wasn't afraid to point out the slaver. I don't hide my hair anymore nor do I want to go to those bars. I chose my career myself and claim the places that my eternal companion always wanted to deny me. Today I get what I want. I'm not going to give up today.”
Ten years ago, the General Assembly proclaimed the International Decade for People of African Descent, to be observed from 2015 to 2024 with the theme “People of African descent: recognition, justice and development” (A/RES/68/237) and subsequently adopted its programme of activities (A/RES/69/16).
Over the past ten years, the International Decade for people of African Descent has provided a framework to foster action by States, international and regional organizations, national human rights bodies, and non-governmental organizations, including of people of African descent.
Efforts are underway for the General Assembly to consider proclaiming a second International Decade for People of African Descent from 2025 to 2034.
