The United Nations Population Fund has welcomed the newly established United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, a 10-member advisory body that will work closely with the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

The body was formed on Monday.

UNFPA Executive Director, Dr Natalia Kanem in a statement Thursday said no country in the world has yet uprooted the deep systems of racial inequity burdening communities of African descent, the result of centuries of discrimination, dispossession and enslavement, adding that the establishment of the forum is a positive step forward for UN efforts to combat racism and racial discrimination in this International Decade for People of African Descent.

“I commend the Member States on the adoption of this resolution and urge them to take concrete steps, in their work with the forum, to make real the call of the International Decade for recognition, justice and development for all people of African descent,” added Kanem.

She further said: “At UNFPA, we see the continuing impact of racism and discrimination in our work with disadvantaged populations around the world. This is especially true among women and girls of African descent, who bear the weight of not only racial inequity but gender inequity as well.”

Kanem said black women and girls are denied their fundamental rights to sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing.

“We see their exclusion from all levels of decision-making, and we see the toll this takes generation after generation.”

Kanem stressed that the needs of vulnerable women and girls must rise to the top of the new forum’s agenda, stating that at UNFPA, they commit to working closely with forum members to highlight and address those needs.

“Our organisation has a long history of standing up for the right of every woman to give birth safely, choose her family and live free from violence. This, in turn, underpins an array of human rights and individual choices, including the ability to pursue an education, to work or be politically active,” she said.

The forum, UNFPA sees as a place where a collective vision of equal rights and equal dignity for all can be realised.

It will serve as a consultation mechanism for people of African descent and other stakeholders, and contribute to the elaboration of a UN declaration towards a legally binding instrument on the promotion and full respect of the rights of people of African descent.

Source: Namibia Press Agency