People of African descent in the Americas

Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Dominican Delegation is grateful for the presentations made by Her Excellency Epsy Campbell Barr, Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica; Mr. Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS); and Commissioner Margarette May Macaulay, Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons of African Descent and against Racial Discrimination of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). We also wish to express in a special way our most sincere congratulations and appreciation to Her Excellency Epsy Campbell Barr, Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica, for the drive and leadership she has shown so that this Permanent Council might mark this great occasion, on which we celebrate for the first time the International Day for People of African Descent, established for each August 31 by United Nations resolution A/RES/75/170 of December 16, 2020, adopted by acclamation, of which the Dominican Republic was among the first group of co-sponsoring countries.

Among the main objectives in establishing the International Day for People of African Descent are to promote the extraordinary contributions of the African diaspora around the world and to eliminate all forms of discrimination against people of African descent.

Mr. Chair, for more than five hundred years, since the time of the founding of Santo Domingo, the first city of the Americas, the part of the island of Hispaniola that is today the Dominican Republic has had an African presence. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), close to 30% of the population of our continent is of African descent. Of these, close to half are children and adolescents under the age of eighteen. Today, some 75% of our country's population is of African descent or African heritage, with a great diversity and blending of cultures, and bound up with the Spanish and indigenous populations.

The African component is something that fills our country with great pride and is reflected in every element of political, economic and cultural life, in which all its inhabitants, regardless of their ethnic origin, mingle and feel proudly bound to a single identity and unity: Dominicanness.

Dear colleagues, quite apart from the great contributions and the pride that our populations of African descent represent for our countries, we note with great concern that the world faces great challenges with regard to respect for the human rights of the most vulnerable populations, among them people of African descent. A major concern is the increase in recent years in the excessive use of force by security institutions against people of African descent and other vulnerable groups, as well as the sad and reprehensible rise of racist groups and discourse, which threaten the dignity of all and the social, economic and political stability of some countries.

Aware of the need to act to correct this situation, our Delegation calls on our governments and on political leaders, together with the various public and private actors and civil society organizations, among others, to play a more active role in raising awareness, with a view to moving forward toward societies that are more just and inclusive and that also respect the rights of all their citizens, their dignity and their development, whatever their ethnic or racial origin.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.