{"id":143342,"date":"2026-05-26T07:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/united-nations-un-chief-calls-for-justice-and-real-change-for-people-of-african-descent\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:15:22","slug":"united-nations-un-chief-calls-for-justice-and-real-change-for-people-of-african-descent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/united-nations-un-chief-calls-for-justice-and-real-change-for-people-of-african-descent\/","title":{"rendered":"United Nations (UN) chief calls for justice and \u2018real change\u2019 for people of African descent"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK, United States of America —\u00a0On the International Day for People of African Descent, celebrated each year on 31 August, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has called for justice, dignity and equality for people of African descent around the world.<\/h4>\n

In a\u00a0message<\/a>\u00a0released ahead of the Day, Mr. Guterres honoured the \u201cextraordinary\u201d contributions of people of African descent across every sphere of human endeavour. The Secretary-General also recognised the \u201clong shadows\u201d of slavery and colonialism, which include systemic racism, unequal economies and societies, and the digital divide (between those who are able to benefit from digital technology, and those who don\u2019t have access).<\/p>\n

Mr. Guterres hailed the\u00a0Global Digital Compact<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 adopted in 2024 as part of the\u00a0Pact for the Future<\/a>, which promotes a multilateral system that reflects today\u2019s realities and delivers for everyone, everywhere \u2013 as a step forward, citing commitments to tackle discrimination and hate speech in digital technologies. \u201cWhite supremacy and dehumanising narratives,\u201d wrote the UN chief, \u201care amplified by social media, and, too often, racial bias is encoded in algorithms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEighty years after the United Nations Charter reaffirmed the equal rights and inherent dignity of every human being, and sixty years since the adoption of the\u00a0International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination<\/a>,\u201d he concluded, \u201cit is long past time to right historic wrongs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image<\/h3>
\n \"UN<\/div>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n\n <\/article>
UN News\/Matthew Wells | The Gateway to Freedom: International Memorial to the Underground Railroad in Detroit, Michigan, dedicated in 2001.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

A decade of action<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s International Day is the first to take place during the second International Decade for People of African Descent, which runs from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2034. The decade, which embraces the theme\u00a0\u201cPeople of African Descent: Recognition, Justice, and Development,\u201d\u00a0aims to highlight the importance of acknowledging the rights and contributions of people of African descent. Mr. Guterres has called for the next ten years to drive \u201creal change,\u201d including working towards a United Nations Declaration on the full respect of people of African descent\u2019s human rights.<\/p>\n

The first Decade saw more than 30 countries change their laws and policies to tackle racial discrimination and address specific issues faced by people of African descent \u2013 in some cases for the first time. The\u00a0Permanent Forum on People of African Descent<\/a>, was created, and new International Days were launched to celebrate the contributions of the diaspora, including those of women and girls.<\/p>\n

Building on the progress made between 2015 and 2024, the second Decade seeks to amplify global efforts toward justice and development for individuals of African descent and create a more equitable future, in which the aspirations and rights of people of African descent are fully recognised, honoured, and celebrated.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK, United States of America —\u00a0On the International Day for People of African Descent, celebrated each year on 31 August, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has called for justice, dignity and equality for people of African descent around the world.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2653],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[2583],"class_list":{"0":"post-143342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-article"},"authors":[{"term_id":2583,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"mermar","display_name":"mermar","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b97554d899a7ce8df2bc286c2f73beda56ebbc97d5d9ced74f7a04498e0fb0d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143738,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143342\/revisions\/143738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143342"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afromagazine.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=143342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}