AHR Supports International Decade for People of African Descent

Credit: United Nations official logo (see logo guidelines).

By AHR Issue Committee Members

April 2020

The AHR Issue Committee and Communities Working Toward Racial Justice would like to announce a new initiative they are working on: The United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024.

According to the UN’s website “In proclaiming this Decade, the international community is recognizing that people of African descent represent a distinct group whose human rights must be promoted and protected. Around 200 million people who identify themselves as being of African descent live in the Americas. Many millions more live in other parts of the world, outside of the African continent.”

YouTube Videos to Watch

To learn more about this important international initiative, view the following videos:

Recommended Read for Communities Working Toward Racial Justice

Richard Rothstein argues that it is government policies at the various levels of government that have added to social struggle for people of color, most often seen in our major cities.  Published in 2017, The Color of Law possesses fascinating insight about segregation in America, doing so with an exacting precision.

The next AHR Committee Call is on Thursday, May 7 at 5pm PT, 8pm ET featuring more information about Communities Working Toward Racial Justice. Register for the call here.

The Advancing Human Rights (AHR) Issue Committee works to ensure compliance at the national, state and local levels with international human rights treaties signed and ratified by the US government. The international treaties to which the US is a party are the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention Against Torture. We also work for the ratification of those treaties which have not yet been adopted by the US: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights. We aim to increase public understanding of and US compliance with Security Council Resolutions on women, peace, and security: 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, and 2122 as well as to promote awareness and implementation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human rights are rights that we all have simply because we are human. They are the basic claims that we have to dignity and respect without regard to our race, nationality, gender, gender identity, sexuality, age, religion, (dis)ability, language, income, immigration status, or other statuses. Human rights include civil, cultural, development, economic, environmental, political, sexual, and social rights. Examples of human rights include housing, health, education, food, water, freedom from discrimination, freedom from torture, and freedom of expression.