Building the Future: Healing and Reparations towards Socio-Economic Justice for Africans and People of African Descent.

 Partners of Choice for Sub-theme 3: the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

 • “It is high time for reparatory justice frameworks to be put in place.”

• This sub-theme explores healing and reparations for socio-economic justice, focusing on restoring human dignity, addressing psychological trauma, and creating frameworks for reparatory justice in response to historical injustices. • Advocating comprehensive policies to achieve socio-economic justice, including education, skills development, health, economic empowerment, resilience building, cultural preservation, legal reforms, and equitable policy implementation for Africans and people of African descent.

 • Recognizing the International Decade for People of African Descent proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 2013 and its themes of recognition, justice, and development and the second International Decade for People of African Descent renewed the call for recognition, justice and development. This is an opportunity to take collective action and address the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and neo-colonialism to deliver reparatory justice, and full human rights and freedom. 

• Considering reparations and healing for Africans and people of African descent. This is an opportunity for the AU to take leadership on this agenda and galvanize Africans and people of African descent to strengthen their common position on historical injustices. 

• Against this backdrop, the concept of reparations will be interpreted broadly as a necessary but not sufficient measure on the way towards healing from the adverse legacies of colonialism and neo-colonialism. It will be considered as a critical step to address systemic racism faced by Africans and people of African descent, and a means to enable societies to effectively move towards reconciliation, healing and equality. In the context of African economies, this translates into ways and means of mobilizing financial resources and accessing financial markets on an equal footing with others without the burden of the so-called “Africa risk premia” imposed by the credit rating agencies. 

• Moreover, sub-theme 3 will explore partnerships to pursue reparatory justice, repair and recovery from the psychological trauma endured from colonial and neo-colonial exploitation to restore the human dignity of Africans and people of African descent.

 • While the subject of reparations implicitly addresses the subject of accountability and redress for past injustices, it is also an opportunity for developing win-win partnerships for inclusive sustainable development, recognizing that the “Africa we want is the Africa the World needs”. In this context, unleashing the opportunity of Africa’s potential demographic dividend, coupled with the global economic value represented by Africa’s position in the critical mineral value chain24 and its vast repository of more than 60 per cent of the remaining undeveloped arable land in the world25 represent an opportunity for a new economic dynamism with a global impact. • Consequently, the sub-theme intends to mobilise Africans, people of African descent, and the wider international community, including state and non-state actors, to take concrete action and address historical injustices