Reparatory justice for people of African descent.

 

Reparatory justice requires a comprehensive and multipronged approach grounded in international human rights law, including, where appropriate, the right to adequate, effective and prompt reparation. States should consider a plurality of measures to address the past legacies of enslavement and colo - nialism and their lasting consequences with a view to seeking the truth, defin - ing the harm, pursuing justice and reparations, and contributing to non-repe - tition and reconciliation. In that regard, States are encouraged to be guided by the recommendations made by United Nations human rights mechanisms and in the High Commissioner’s agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality. Strong leadership and political will from States and the international community are needed to overcome the challenges to addressing the entrenched legacies of colonialism, enslavement and the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, and to effectively redress the situation of people of African descent, including through a comprehensive approach to repair the legacies of the past. Achieving accountability and redress, including through reparatory justice, for people of African descent is necessary to restore the dignity of victims, achieve reconciliation and healing and reverse the consequences of generations of exclusion and discrimination. It is also crucial to build a stronger, more resilient future of dignity, equality and non-discrimination for all. States should ensure effective and meaningful participation of people of African descent and their communities, in particular women and youth, to guide the design, implementation and evaluation of all reparatory justice processes, including through broad and inclusive consultations. These processes should be gender-sensitive and grounded in an intersectional and intergenerational analysis of the impacts of enslavement and colonialism and their lasting consequences. Reparatory justice also contributes to broader efforts to eradicate systemic racism and racial discrimination. The full implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination should be understood as an essential means of achieving reparatory justice for people of African descent. States and other stakeholders are encouraged to comprehensively implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the programme of activities of the International Decade for People of African Descent and the agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality. They should ensure that people of African descent are not left behind in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. States are encouraged to actively engage in the elaboration of a draft United Nations declaration on the promotion and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent, with a view to ensuring that the declaration provides a global framework to address the systemic nature of racism and discrimination and contributes to confronting and redressing past violations and injustices and their present consequences; as well as to engage with the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent in this process. Relevant business enterprises, the media, universities and other relevant private actors should also consider their own links to enslavement, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism in their ongoing and pd past operations and examine possibilities for reparation, where appropriate.

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