A/HRC/39/69
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
15 August 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-ninth session
10–28 September 2018
Agenda item 9
Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
forms of intolerance, follow-up to and implementation
of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Report of the Working Group of Experts on People of
African Descent on its twenty-first and twenty-second
sessions
Note by the Secretariat
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of
the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its twenty-first and twentysecond sessions, prepared pursuant to Council resolutions 9/14, 18/28, 27/25 and 36/23.
During its twenty-first session, held in Geneva from 20 to 24 November 2017, the Working
Group held private discussions. At its twenty-second session, held in Geneva from 19 to 23
March 2018, the Working Group focused on the theme “Framework for a declaration on the
promotion and full respect of human rights of people of African descent”.
The Working Group concluded that the draft declaration should recognize the
cultural, economic, political, and scientific contributions of people of African descent. It
should also highlight the interconnectedness of past to present, mainly of the legacy of the
transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism with the persistence of racism,
racial discrimination, Afrophobia, xenophobia, marginalization and related forms of
intolerance against people of African descent today. In addition, multiple and intersecting
forms of discrimination faced by people of African descent should be acknowledged and
combated through the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. All
relevant stakeholders should make an effort to implement the Durban Declaration and
Programme of Action and the programme of activities of the International Decade for
People of African Descent.
GE.18-13434(E)