United Nations Announces Second International Decade for People of African Descent

On December 17 the United Nations announced its Second International Decade for People of African Descent, January 2025 to December 2034. If you haven’t been paying attention, the first decade kicked off in 2015 and ends in 2024. (By the way, Canada did not sign on until January 30, 2018.) The original decade was intended to allow nation states, civil society, and others to “join together with people of African descent and take effective measures for the implementation of the programme of activities in the spirit of recognition, justice and development.”

According to their press release of December 19, “This Second International Decade is an opportunity to take concrete actions to confront the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, deliver reparatory justice, and secure the full human rights and freedoms of people of African descent worldwide.” This is political speak for “we are not convinced that enough positive change transpired in the first decade.” Indeed, the press release goes on to say that the first decade fell short of delivering transformative change. Put bluntly, there was a lack of political will and investments from Member States.

As black folks around the world know all too well, especially in white majority nations, we still face structural racism across all spheres of society including education, employment, healthcare, housing, finance, and policing, all of which are further exacerbated by “climate vulnerabilities, digital exclusion, and environmental injustice.”

Our fearless leader, Charmaine A. Nelson, returned from a recent consultation at UN Headquarters in NYC in December both inspired (by her fellow participants) and concerned by the steady drumbeat of well-founded concerns about the entrenched, racial violence to which black people continue to be subjected globally.

This second time around, the Canadian government co-sponsored the proposal and has thus far approved the following investments starting in Fall 2024:

• $36 million in 2025-26 to extend the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative;
• $189 million over five years, starting in 2025-26, for the Black Entrepreneurship Program to help Black entrepreneurs and business owners thrive;
• $9.5 million over two years, starting in 2025-26, to help Black youth overcome employment barriers through the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy Program; and
• $77.9 million over two years, starting in 2025-26, to launch Canada’s Black Justice Strategy.

However, at the same time, the prolific exclusion of black Canadians from certain sectors of employment and equitable social engagement – think academia, education, healthcare, corporate Canada, government etc. – and the systemic racist abuse and pervasive obstacles within these same realms point out the disconnect between rhetoric and transformative action. They also draw our attention to the deeply entrenched cultures of white supremacy that have never been named, let alone dismantled, within a Canadian society which relishes its erroneous reputation as a racially tolerant society.

So, here’s to a second decade! Let’s capitalize upon the global attention and economic investments to cultivate community organizations, cultures of care, strategies of resistance, and independent institutions that are not dependent on the fickle political climate and white sanction for direction, endorsement, or sustainability.