People of African descent

Permanent Council · Regular meeting
Organization of American States, Washington, D.C.

Ambassador Josué Fiallo, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic

Translated from the Spanish original, which is the authoritative text.

We are grateful for the inclusion of this agenda item, and we thank the presenters for the information provided today, of which we have taken due note.

Madam Chair,

As you mentioned in your introduction, the International Day for People of African Descent was celebrated for the first time in 2021, midway through the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), a period in which the international community is invited to take concrete measures to promote recognition, justice and development.

The history of the Dominican Republic has been linked from its beginnings to our heritage of African descent.

Despite the conditions of slavery in which the African population arrived on the island of Hispaniola, it has had a positive influence on the most diverse spheres of Dominican society, contributing to national diversity in our culture and daily life.

The Dominican Republic is likewise a signatory to the most important international commitments providing for the guarantee and fulfillment of human rights for the well-being and development of people of African descent, including the Montevideo Consensus (2013), in which it undertook to adopt measures aimed at eliminating prevailing inequalities, with particular emphasis on groups in vulnerable conditions.

The Dominican State has undertaken to implement international agreements aimed at the recognition and advancement of people of African descent, and has promoted policies, measures and actions to that end.

In our country, in March of this year, 2022, the cultural initiative “Diálogo de tambores” (Dialogue of Drums) was held; it is part of the mechanisms that seek the implementation and fulfillment of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).

This cultural event was aimed at:

recognizing and making visible the experiences of Dominican diversity,
highlighting the Afro-Dominican heritage, and
promoting the full and equitable participation of people of African descent in the different arenas of Dominican society.

These purposes are closely linked to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically to SDG 10, which focuses on reducing inequalities and ensuring that no one is left behind.

Finally, we recognize that, like the great majority of the countries of the Hemisphere, we face great challenges in ensuring that our inhabitants increasingly have greater social inclusion, education, health services, training and jobs, toward which the Dominican Government works tirelessly.

The African component is something that fills our country with great pride and is reflected in the elements of social, political, economic and cultural life, in which all its inhabitants, regardless of their origin, feel proudly bound to a single identity, which is our Dominicanness!

Thank you very much.