Statements delivered in 2004 were heard and responded to by the UN.

 

 

Written and Oral Statements to the United Nations in 2004

 

Table of Contents

 

1. Oral Statement to the 56th Session of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, August 2004
2. Written Statement to the 56th Session of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, August 2004
3. Oral Statement to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights, April 2004
4. Written Statement to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights, April 2004

5. Oral Statements to the 10th Session of the Working Group on Minorities, March 2004 (three statements)

 

 

1) Oral Statement to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

Fifth Sixth Session, 26 July to 13 August, 2004

Agenda Item 5 ©) Prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities

Speaker: Mr. Silis Muhammad

We, the Afro descendant minorities, numbering over 250 million souls in the region of the Americas and Slavery Diaspora, do not have collective human rights protection under the United Nations.

We have been bringing our prayers to the Working Group on Minorities for more than eight years. This Working Group, made up of five Sub-Commissioners, has done its very best to help us, and to recognize us and cause others to recognize us.

The Working Group on Minorities has organized three regional seminars for Afrodescendants and they are planning a fourth in Brazil. We want you to know that through these seminars Afrodescendants are coming together as a human family and asking for recognition and human rights protection. We call upon Member States to contribute to the UN Annual Appeal Minorities Project in order to help fund these seminars.

The UN is the greatest law-giver in civilized society. If we cannot call upon the UN, made up of civilized men and women, to grant us protected collective human rights, then who else, can we call upon?



2) Written Statement to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

Fifth Sixth Session, 26 July to 13 August, 2004

Agenda Item 5 ©) Prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities

 

We, the Afro descendant minorities throughout the Americas Region and Slavery Diaspora, have been attending and intervening at the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights for eight years. We have been praying for our most basic human rights: our language, culture, and religion; and, we have been repeatedly asking for the recognition of our self-chosen name, Afrodescendants. The Working Group on Minorities has recognized us, the Afro descendant minorities, suffering the lingering effects of slavery.

Both the Sub-Commission and the Commission on Human Rights place minorities on their agenda. They invite minority leaders to travel to Geneva and speak on behalf of their people as delegates of NGOs. Human rights scholars are well aware that we Afro descendant minorities are among the poorest of the poor in the countries in which we live. Yet, from their empty pockets the leaders find the money to come to the U.N. and speak on behalf of their people.

The date when minorities are recognized on the agenda of the Sub-Commission and the Commission on Human Rights is not fixed in the time-table of these Conferences. It seems that even though the United Nations has declared the importance of protecting the rights of minorities, leaders of minority NGOs are often placed in a powerless "minority" position when it comes to speaking at these Conferences.

Frequently the Conferences fall behind in their schedule, and re-scheduling of the minorities agenda item is done without consideration of the minorities themselves. Three times the representative of the NGO All For Reparations and Emancipation, AFRE, has been forced to return home to the United States without delivering his statement himself, due to changes in the time-table.

The United Nations is perceived to be the zenith body of law and order of the world. What other body of law can we call upon? We call upon you, the Sub-Commission. The Sub-Commission has a more respected voice than do we, the minority. As ex-slaves, up from civil death and given birth, what more can we ask, or of whom can we ask that the class of persons fitting the description, minority, have a permanent place on the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights, just as the Indigenous people have their place.

In April of 2004, Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke to the Commission on Human Rights about the Rwanda genocide and the importance of protecting minorities. On the very day that he was speaking about the importance of protecting minorities, the scheduled time when minority leaders would be able to speak to the Commission on Human Rights was pushed forward over a four day holiday weekend.

This act made the commitment of Secretary-General Annan ring hollow, as minority representatives experienced their powerlessness and their unprotected position within the U.N. The Afro descendant leader, Mr. Silis Muhammad, was unable to stay in Geneva for an extra five days; therefore, he could not speak about the utter destruction of the original identity of his people and their prayer for U.N. recognition and assistance.

We respectfully ask the Sub-Commission to fix the agenda item 5( c ) Prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities within the time-table, and make a commitment to minorities that their interventions will be heard on the date that the agenda item is scheduled. We have seen this consideration given to the Indigenous Peoples, and we feel that minorities, in particular Afro descendant minorities, are in a comparable position. Fixing the agenda item 5( c ) would be an act of recognition and an example to the Commission on Human Rights.

 

3) Oral Statement to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights
15 March to 23 April, 2004
Agenda Item 14: Specific groups and individuals: (b) Minorities
Speaker: Mr. Silis Muhammad

Alternate: Ms. Ana Leurinda

 

I have been asked to speak on behalf of the Afro descendant leader, Mr. Silis Muhammad.  Mr. Muhammad could not remain in Geneva over the holiday, beyond the scheduled time allotted for Item 14.  Here is his statement:

 

Due in part to the efforts of the Working Group on Minorities, for the first time in the history of our sojourn, we who are descendants of enslaved Africans collectively took on the identity of Afro descendants at La Ceiba, Honduras in March 2002

 

We are unlike other people of African descent who live today in different parts of the world.  They still have their identity; their mother tongue, and their tribal kinships, and they can enjoy the protection and assistance of their national authorities, if they so choose.  But we, who were rendered a stateless people by slavery, were deprived of all of these most precious possessions, and are denied and deprived still of these rights; to enjoy our mother tongue, culture and religion.  We cannot reclaim our grandparents – we are orphans in the earth to this day.  Four hundred years of forced mixed breeding during slavery and its lingering effects have rendered us unprotected by human rights law.

 

We remained quiescent for a long period of time, in the names African American, Afro-American, Blacks, Negro, colored and so on.  But today we have taken on the identity “Afro descendants” in some nineteen countries in North, Central and South America and throughout the Slavery Diaspora.  Therefore, we Afro descendants request the recognition, protection and assistance of the Commission on Human Rights, and the authorities of the UN.  Thank you.

 

Mr. Chairman, I have just read the AFRE statement, but I am not the person who should have read it.  Wednesday, April 7, minority representatives were scheduled to speak to the Commission on Human Rights under item 14 (b).  On that day, when the Secretary General spoke about the importance of protecting minorities, consideration of item 14 was pushed forward into the future.  Some leaders of minority communities who travelled to the UN have been forced to return home without speaking because the Commission has fallen behind schedule.  This has happened to the Afro descendant leader, Mr. Muhammad, three times.  Would the Commission consider protecting leaders of minority communities by fixing item 14 as has been done with item 15?  Thank you for your consideration.

 

 

4) Written Statement to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

Agenda Item 14: Specific groups and individuals: (b) Minorities
15 March to 23 April, 2004

We, Afrodescendants, seek placement on the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights.  We seek to be placed on the agenda as "New Minorities."  We emerged as "New Minorities" during globalization – the present process of economic, political and cultural interconnection, which had its origin after the Cold War.  Inasmuch as globalization is the phenomenon that produces new identities, we collectively took on the new identity, Afrodescendants, at La Ceiba, Honduras, in March 2002.

 

The term Minority has taken on additional meanings.  Today the term Minority takes into consideration who has the minority of wealth and power.  Thus, today the term Minority has a qualitative value as well as a quantitative value.  An analysis in this regard reveals that in all of the Americas and throughout the slavery Diaspora, Afrodescendants are in the minority.

 

The Working Group on Minorities has placed Afrodescendants in their reports and on their agenda as Afro descendant Minorities.  We submit this as a working definition of Afrodescendants: peoples who 1) were forcibly dispossessed of their homeland, Africa; 2) were transported to the Americas and Diaspora for the purpose of enslavement; 3) and were subjected to slavery; 4) were subjected to forced mixed breeding and rape; 5) have experienced, through force, the loss of mother tongue, culture and religion; 6) and have experienced racial discrimination due to lost ties or partially lost ties to their original identity.

 

For the first time in the history of our sojourn, we collectively have given name to ourselves: Afrodescendants.  As Minorities we remained quiescent for a long period of time, in the names African American, Afro-American, Blacks, Negro, Colored, and so on.  But today, we collectively have rebuilt our identity in some nineteen countries in North, Central and South America and throughout the slavery Diaspora. Therefore, Afrodescendants are the "New Minorities", and we request to be placed on the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights as such.

 

 

5) First Oral Statement to the 10th Session Working Group on Minorities, March 2004

Speaker: Mr. Silis Muhammad

Agenda Item 3 a   Afrodescendants

 

Greetings Mr. Chairman, Members of the Working Group on Minorities.  It is a pleasure to be here for the tenth session of the Working Group on Minorities.  We have benefitted from your efforts of the past ten years, and we thank you for your dedication.

 

We, Afrodescendants, emerged as "New Minorities" during globalization – the present process of economic, political and cultural interconnection, which had its origin after the Cold War.  Inasmuch as globalization is the phenomenon that produces new identities, we collectively took on the new identity, Afrodescendants, at La Ceiba, Honduras, in March 2002.

 

In our view, the term Minority has taken on additional meanings.  The term has taken into consideration who has the minority of wealth and power.  Thus, today the term Minority has a qualitative value as well as a quantitative value.  An analysis in this regard reveals that in all of the Americas and throughout the Slavery Diaspora, Afrodescendants are in the minority.

 

Due in part to the efforts of this Working Group, for the first time in the history of our sojourn, we collectively have given name to ourselves: Afrodescendants.  As Minorities we remained quiescent for a long period of time, in the names African American, Afro-American, Blacks, Negro, Colored, and so on.  But today, we collectively have rebuilt our identity in some nineteen countries in North, Central and South America and throughout the Slavery Diaspora.

 

Therefore, Afrodescendants are the "New Minorities."  We request that the Working Group on Minorities continue to present us to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and to the United Nations, as such, as we recommend an international decade for the recognition of Minorities.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Second Oral Statement to the 10th Session Working Group on Minorities, March 2004

Speaker: Ms. Cheryl Kyle Sharrief

Agenda Item 3 a   Afrodescendants

 

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of this Working Group, participants and observers, I am privileged to be appearing before this distinguished and dedicated body and I thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of the practical realization of the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities.

 

My name is Cheryl Kyle Sharrief, and I am appearing as a member of All For Reparations and Emancipation and the California Black Chamber of Commerce.  For the past 19 years, my profession has been to memorialize and create certified records in judicial, municipal and public sectors.  I have been privileged to memorialize the experiences of Afrodescendants as it relates to the lingering effects of slavery and the various political and socioeconomic attempts at overcoming the complete destruction of our identity and the resulting discrimination and marginalization.

 

We are a new minority, newly awakened to our existence as part of the larger family of Afro descendant Minorities living in the Region of the Americas.

 

We are awakening to the concept of our right to our original language, culture and religion.  We are only intuitively conscious of what has been irreparably stripped from our lost generations which still adversely impacts our present and future generations, and we need a recognized place to fit in order to begin to understand and restore ourselves.

 

Numerous non-profits are in the process of attempting to establish a cohesive agenda under which to address what amounts to the ethnogenesis of Afrodescendants as a new minority.  It is essential that this process continue.  The continued efforts of the Working Group on Minorities on our behalf are absolutely essential to us as our process of recovery has only begun.  The climb to self awareness is filled with a pain that is stark and unrelenting in its revelation.  Recognition is the key to restoring a group that has maintained an evolving identity for centuries.  The artistic expressions of Afrodescendants in the U.S. have an influence on many cultures.  We Afrodescendants in the U.S. are now in a process of organizing ourselves toward collective decision-making.  The efforts of the Working Group on Minorities are essential in assisting us in our process.

 

We thank you for your working papers and for your Regional Seminars.  We in the United States know of your efforts through the internet and through our own national conferences.  The Working Group on Minorities has made itself a part of our history, and we urge governments to support this Working Group in order that its great work might continue.

 

Maintaining the mechanism that enables people to directly and personally intervene with the Working Group is paramount in its task of promoting and having practical realization of the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities.

 

 

Third Oral Statement to the 10th Session Working Group on Minorities, March 2004

Speaker: Ms. Raushana Karriem

Agenda Item 3 a   Afrodescendants

Organization - National Commission For Reparations

 

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Working Group, NGO’s and observers, I am privileged to be appearing before this distinguished panel of experts, to speak in concert for the support of the practical realization of the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities.

 

I am Raushana Karriem, Senior Commissioner of the National Commission for Reparations, Atlanta, Georgia U.S.A.  For the past 32 years, I have been active in seeking justice for Afrodescendants.

 

The legacies of plantation slavery still haunt Afrodescendants in the Americas.  When released from chattel slavery, Afrodescendants in North America were released penniless, naked, ignorant, hungry and landless, unlike their counterparts in Jamaica, Haiti, etc.    Today after over 100 years of  menial emancipation, Afrodescendants  are often seen in the same pititable condition.

 

During slavery our human rights were systematically destroyed.  After our kidnap and capture, we were separated from our various tribes and put with others,  so as to insure we would  not to be able to communicate with each other. The mother tongue of the Afrodescendant was lost forever, which is essential to one’s identity.

 

After reaching the shores of the Americas,   husbands, wives, children, mothers and fathers were sold to different owners and bred like animals to produce strong workers, who were again sold to the highest bidder at the whim or convenience of their masters..  This was deliberately done, and  resulted in the destruction of  black ancestral culture and religion, which the Afrodescendant will never regain. Thus, Afrodescendants have the distinction of being the only people on earth who can never hope to find their specific ancestral roots, language, culture or religion.  It is lost to us forever. 

 

The UN  Universal Declaration of Human Rights, states that every human being on earth is entitled to these human rights. The Working Group on Minorities should be commended for their attention and input into these centuries old and present day injustices that still plague Afrodescendants. The cry for justice by Afro descendants has now been reverberated around the world, and is being heard by the people of the world.  The Working Group on Minorities have provided this forum.