Remarks by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the Fourth Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Madame Chair,
President of the General Assembly,
Excellencies, 
Distinguished delegates, 
Dear young people,

I greet you in peace, always of concern for African people all over the world and the noble pursuit of the United Nations.

It is an honor for me to join you at this esteemed Forum. Since its establishment four years ago, UNFPA has been present at every session, a testament to our unflinching support for the crucial mandate of this Forum. 

As a people, we have come to learn through history – our shared African history – that progress comes when we rise and demand long overdue justice. Referencing the great Frederick Douglass: 

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning, they want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”

And so the struggle for full freedom carries on, in this generation spearheaded by the African Union, including its sixth region, its proud diaspora.

For UNFPA, that means carrying on with our important work to uphold the dignity and rights of women and girls of African descent, who continually face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and oppression, yet still contributing massively to shaping economies, cultures and scientific developments, including robotics, artificial intelligence, mathematics, populations studies, and so much more.

UNFPA is assisting countries to disaggregate population data by race and ethnicity to help us lift the cloak of invisibility off groups too often left behind. Why? Because you cannot change what you cannot see.

With UNFPA’s support, 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean now include race and ethnic self-identification in their censuses, which is essential in devising policies to end inequality and discrimination. 

UNFPA addresses disparities in reproductive health, because as we know all too well, it is Black women and adolescent girls who are at a much higher risk of maternal mortality and the consequences of adolescent pregnancy. This must change and it should not take five, ten or twenty years for that change to manifest.

In partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and with the generous support of Luxembourg, UNFPA recently launched the Global Maternal Health Coalition for People of African Descent. The first technical workshop of this Coalition is due to take place later this year.

We are also pleased to partner on targeted interventions for the implementation of Recommendation Number 5 of the Committee of Experts for the Belém do Pará Convention. It calls on countries to end gender-based violence against women of African descent.  

Gender-based violence is an ugly, troubling epidemic now exacerbated by online toxicity directed at women and girls of African descent. This Forum has a role to play in insisting that racism and sexism have no place in public dialogue, including in the digital space.

Let us take heart from last year’s first-ever commemoration of the International Day for Women and Girls of African Descent on July 25th, led by the Governments of Brazil and Colombia. This is another important step towards uplifting people of African descent and advancing gender equality. 

The beauty of Black women is undeniable and it is our business to instill in every young girl an appreciation of her inner beauty and her inherent strength.

Excellencies, dear partners,

Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

Yes we have arrived to this place, yet am I wrong to say that the road ahead is uncertain? We cannot wait to act to protect the hard-won gains that began from the moment of abduction from Africa, through the Middle Passage, up until today.

Already, there is heightened pushback on progress that intended to level the playing field and improve the everyday lives of Black people in areas such as education, health and employment. 

Already, we have seen attacks on innocent migrants whose only desire was to make a better life for themselves and their children. 

Meanwhile, on the African continent conflict and war are having repercussions far and wide.

Now is the time to recommit to our quest for peace and equality. Now is the time for recognition. Now is the time to raise the demand for justice for all people of African descent.

Excellencies, dear partners,

“I am my mother’s daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.” 

These are words of educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune.

That drum invites us to dialogue. 

I am delighted to invite all of you to an extraordinary moment that will take place outside this afternoon at 1:15pm at the Ark of Return memorial dedicated to the victims of enslavement, which is marking 10 years since it was unveiled. It is there that you will be able to hear the sounds and rhythms of drums – drums that will connect us and guide our common heartbeats as we work together towards building a peaceful, equal, healthy and just world for people of African descent, and for all.

Muchas gracias, Adelante!