Written by Japheth Monzon, Project Officer
The Permanent Forum on People of African Descent aims to realise a dream that entails the full and uncompromising protection, promotion, and respect of the human rights of people of African descent, globally. In hopes of acting as a mechanism for consultation on matters that involve people of African descent, the Forum congregated on two separate occasions with the goal of realising a United Nations Declaration on this very matter. The first session, held between the 5th and 8th of December 2022, revolved around the fight against systemic racism. Included in the agenda were issues such as: future policymaking for people of African descent; the inclusion of African heritage people in sustainable development agendas; the protection and promotion of the full human rights of people of African descent; and more. The second session, held between the 30th of May and the 2nd of June 2023, altered its focus to the issue of global reparatory justice, that which includes an agenda of: Pan-Africanism for dignity, justice and peace; transnational migration; macro-level recognition and addressing of systemic and structural racism; data-driven approaches; and generational trauma. This reflection will serve to draw links between the points made during the First and Second Sessions on the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and the work done by BSWN throughout the years.
The First Session
The importance of culture foregrounds the context of this Permanent Forum, with the first session starting off with a cultural performance. Certainly, reminders of cultural heritage can aid in fostering a reparatory, healing, and celebratory atmosphere – something echoed by the cultural performance lead by Cleo Lake and Kabbo Hue-Ferdinand in the Memorialising the Future event held by BSWN, the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity, and the Bristol Legacy Group.
With the conclusion of the cultural performance, the conversation is taken towards the discussion of ‘future policymaking for people of African descent.’ Catherine Namakula, Chair of the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement, begins the discussion by drawing attention towards three societal phenomenon that largely contribute to the creation of systemic racism: the erasure of pre-colonial African history, the attacks on the right of life and safety of people of African descent by law enforcement, and discriminatory migration policies. BSWN recognises these aforementioned three factors as strong drivers of racial injustice. In order to combat racial injustice, it is important to address these issues directly. BSWN’s work aims to achieve this goal. For example, engagement in the cultural heritage sector, through BSWN’s UnMuseum programme, aims to bring to light the voices of people of African descent previously rendered silenced and unheard. In addition, our nascent Race & Justice work – beginning with the Race & Justice Conference in September 2023 – aims to combat racial discrimination at the hands of law enforcement. Finally, our September policy brief focused on the discriminatory migration policies that flow from the recently passed Illegal Migration Act 2023. In response to this policy briefs, several councillors throughout the South West have expressed interest in learning more about how to support Black and Minoritised migrants arriving to the United Kingdom.
The First Session acknowledges the intersectional forms that racial discrimination can manifest (“including the specific concerns of such vulnerable groups as women, girls, children, migrants, and persons with disabilities and LGBTQI+ persons”). The Permanent Forum also acknowledge that “migrants of African descent, while on their journeys, were often exposed to a high risk of being separated from their families and being enslaved and exploited and even of losing their lives.” Certainly, this is of extreme importance, particularly in today’s political climate that places so much ire on the racialised migrant. It is on this point that BSWN found the Illegal Migration Act 2023 widespread enough in its impact that our policy brief was proliferated to all councillors and Members of Parliament in the South West of England – perhaps, in hopes that our legislators and policy-influencers are made aware of the pitfalls of such discriminatory migration policies.
The First Session concluded with the call for a Declaration to include the “right to development and equal access to education, employment, health care, housing, criminal justice, policymaking, land and resources and to bridge development and digital gaps.” Certainly, the Forum recognises that young people of African descent are constantly at the receiving end of negative stereotypes, disproportionate police profiling, stop-and-searches, arrests, and predictive policing. Understanding that this occurs at a widespread level, BSWN has worked with organisations focused on youth diversion programmes such as the Mwanzo Project (led by Maya Mate-Kole) and Bristol Horn Youth Concern (led by Khalil Abdi). An effective Declaration protecting the rights of people of African Descent must also recognise the complexities of intersectional discrimination. Indeed, the Forum highlights that Black women are marginalised by the compound effects of both racism, classism, and sexism. In an effort to support the economic prospects and opportunities of Black and Minoritised women, BSWN have also partnered with NatWest in 2020 to launch the Women in Business programme. It is also important to emphasise that any potential UN Declaration must definitely include equal access to housing; BSWN’s report on Housing of Black and Minoritised Communities in the city of Bristol recognises that Black and Minoritised households disproportionately experience housing problems (such as overcrowding, damp, mould, and landlord disputes) compared to white households. As a result, BSWN has taken steps to combat housing inequalities through our upcoming Social Housing Clinics with Bristol City Council, our Housing Rights Awareness workshops with Shelter, and our engagement with Bristol City Council’s Land Disposal Bid with MakeItWork to address the impact of gentrification on long-standing Black and Minoritised communities.
The Second Session
The first panel of the Second Session for the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent focus primarily on the topic of global reparatory justice. Global reparatory justice involves monetary compensation. However, and as identified by Kobina Amokwandoh at our UnMuseum event ‘I Am Witness: The Role of Testimony in the Reparatory Justice Process’, it involves more than pecuniary restitution, but the reclamation of sovereignty by people of African descent; global reparations involve “restitution, repatration and reconnection.” This event, chaired by Jendayi Serwah of Afrikan ConneXions Consortium, proclaimed that a holistic approach to global reparatory justice is required, that which recognises the commensurate ways that people of African descent (globally) will want reparations to manifest. The UN Permanent Forum also recognises this, stated by Ms Achiume that “global reparatory justice must include accountability and rehabilitation measures, the eradication of persistent systems of injustice affecting people of African descent.” The dialogue at our UnMuseum event outlines something similar, that reparation policies can occur through three main ways: direct revolution; liberal democracies, lawsuits, and court action; and Truth Commissions or Truth Inquiries.
The fourth panel of this session highlights the need for a data-driven and evidence based approach to combatting structural and systemic racism. It also emphasises the importance of disaggregated data being paired with policymaking. Disaggregated data can be utilised as a way to identify societal disparities. The Policy Maker states that “robust, high quality data can tell us ow prevalent racism is… where it occurs, how it manifests, and what its impacts are.” As a data-focused racial justice organisation, BSWN’s research work reflects a commitment to utilising high quality data as a means of identifying racial disparities and combatting them in the form of co-ordinated responses through outreach initiatives, partnerships and policy influencing. Indeed, Mr Anton Sánchez of the UN Permanent Forum succinctly summarises BSWN’s stance on the use of statistical and qualitative data: it has been instrumental in combating racial injustice for it allows us to understand “the root causes of inequality, exclusion, and systemic and structural racism.” Following on from this point, the final panel focuses on health and well-being – particularly how a lack of data within healthcare concerning people of African descent, as explained by the panel’s Ms Galván Ortega, poses a challenge in understanding the health impacts of systemic racism. Indeed, to panel recognises that in order to combat systemic racism in healthcare, coordinated action is required. However, an effective coordinated action will necessarily require disaggregated data, whether quantitative or qualitative, that identifies key areas of disparity within the healthcare of people of African descent. Chiara Lodi and Verona Vidal’s ‘The Community-Led Momentum in Gloucestershire to Tackle Healthcare Inequalities’ report – which focuses on the challenges and opportunities in tackling racial healthcare inequalities – demonstrates the importance of collecting data to identify key issues in healthcare. The report utilises quantitative and qualitative data, as well as case studies, to identify whether healthcare and social care needs are being met in the region. This, as a result, allows for the report to also identify potential solutions through co-ordinated action.
Concluding Comments
The UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent is a welcomed initiative in the fight for racial justice. BSWN’s work aligns heavily with the points of discussion featured in the panel dialogues. Therefore, we look forward to the implementation of a UN Declaration that protects the rights of people of African Descent. Such a Declaration should include a recognition of intersectionality and identity; equal access to housing, healthcare, social care, and economic opportunities; the protection of migrants and refugees; and for clear solutions for the acquisition of global reparations – amongst many other points mentioned in the Forum that has not been included in this reflection. We further support the draft Declaration provided that consolidates the wealth of topics and recommendations discussed during the two sessions.
However, with a planned 3rd session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent planned in April 2024, we hope that there will be further focus on the mental health of people of African Descent, particularly in regards to the burgeoning mental health crisis in the United Kingdom that has been acutely compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the worsening underfunding of the National Health Service’s mental health sector. Indeed, Nuffield Trust reports that 16% of those that are restricted as patients in UK hospitals are Black or Black British – with the Black/Black British population of the UK amounting to just 3%. This worrying statistic belies the cursory mentions provided to the topic of mental health in the previous two forums. We also recognise that a discussion of the impact of capitalism, globally, is missing from the conversation. Such an economic system, so strongly and historically tied to colonialism, the trafficking of human beings, and a primary driver to the increasing wealth disparity found worldwide, is a necessary item to be discussed if we are to seek the protection of people of African heritage.
If you are interested in reading the complete summary of the UN Permanent Forum’s two sessions, it can be read here.
Sources
https://mirandagrell.com/bswn-race-and-justice-conference/
https://www.blacksouthwestnetwork.org/unmuseum
https://www.blacksouthwestnetwork.org/reports/research-reports
https://thepolicymaker.jmi.org.au/how-could-data-help-us-combat-racism/
https://www.facebook.com/afrikanconnexions/?locale=en_GB
https://www.blacksouthwestnetwork.org/s/GREAG-Report-2023.pdf