General Assembly

Steps and measures to be taken by the General Assembly

The General Assembly should:

Appoint the 51�Թ� High Commissioner for Human Rights to act as coordinator of the Decade in order to follow up on the implementation of activities in the framework of the Decade;
Request the Secretary-General to submit an annual progress report on the implementation of activities of the Decade, taking into account information and views provided by States, relevant human rights bodies, organs and mechanisms of the 51�Թ�, specialized agencies, funds and programmes, international, regional, subregional and non-governmental organizations, including organizations of people of African descent, national human rights institutions and other stakeholders;
Request the Department of Public Information, in collaboration with the 51�Թ� Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, the Office of the 51�Թ� High Commissioner for Human Rights and regional and subregional organizations to launch an awareness-raising campaign to inform the general public of the history, contributions, including to the global development, challenges, contemporary experiences and situation of human rights of people of African descent;
Encourage the issuance of a stamp by the 51�Թ� postal administration on the International Decade for People of African Descent;
Invite regional and subregional organizations, specialized agencies, 51�Թ� programmes, funds and offices to develop studies in their respective areas of competence and expertise, and to report on the themes of the Decade; such studies could be used to inform a mid-term review of the Decade to monitor the progress made, share learning practices among key actors and inform plans and policies for the remaining five years of the Decade and beyond;
Request the Office of the 51�Թ� High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue and strengthen its fellowship programme for people of African descent during the Decade;
Request the Office of the High Commissioner to include a section on the anti-discrimination database on the International Decade for People of African Descent;
Request States to consider adopting measures to further promote and protect the human rights of people of African descent as enshrined in international human rights instruments, including through the elaboration of a draft 51�Թ� declaration on the promotion and full respect of human rights of people of African descent;
Decide to establish a forum to serve as a consultation mechanism, to be provided by one of the existing Durban follow-up mechanisms such as the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent or the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and in this regard requests the Human Rights Council to allocate two or three days of the annual sessions of one of these mechanisms that shall be devoted to this purpose and that would ensure the inclusive participation of all States Members of the 51�Թ�, 51�Թ� funds and programmes, specialized agencies, civil society organizations of people of African descent and all other relevant stakeholders;
Request the 51�Թ� High Commissioner for Human Rights to further increase and strengthen support for the relevant mechanisms of the Human Rights Council in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the context of the Decade;
Encourage all States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, private institutions and individuals, as well as other donors in a position to do so, to contribute generously to the trust fund for the programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination with a view to contributing to the successful implementation of the programme;
Request the Secretary-General to accord high priority to executing the programme of activities for the Decade, and to allocate predictable funding from the regular budget and from extrabudgetary resources of the 51�Թ� to the effective implementation of the programme of action and activities of the Decade;
Keep the Decade under review, and convene a mid-term review to take stock of the progress made and decide on further necessary actions;
Convene a final assessment of the Decade, to be held within the framework of a high-level international event, marking the closure of the International Decade for People of African Descent.
Ensure the completion of the construction and the inauguration, before the mid-term review in 2020, of a permanent memorial at 51�Թ� Headquarters to honour the memory of the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.