THE African Group at the United Nations has issued a pointed call to action on the 60th anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), demanding that the global community move from commemorations to concrete policy – and placing reparatory justice squarely at the centre of the international agenda.
Delivering the group’s formal statement at the UN General Assembly in New York on Sunday, H.E. Ambassador Issa Konfourou, Permanent Representative of Mali and Chair of the African Group for March 2026, warned that despite six decades of international commitments, millions of people of African descent continue to face systemic barriers in education, healthcare, housing, employment, and infrastructure – barriers rooted not in personal failing, but in structural racism.
The statement carried particular weight given the African Union’s February 2025 summit, which adopted a landmark decision formally classifying the transatlantic slave trade, the deportation of Africans, and colonisation as crimes against humanity and genocide against the peoples of Africa. The AU’s theme for the summit – “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations” – signals a decisive continental shift toward demanding formal accountability for historical injustices, not merely their acknowledgement.
Ambassador Konfourou pressed for the comprehensive implementation of both ICERD and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, describing them as the foundational architecture for combating contemporary racism. The Group’s statement also underscored the significance of the 25th Anniversary of the Durban Declaration, set for September 2026, and the launch of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025–2035) – calling on the international community to use these milestones to accelerate progress rather than mark time.
ECONOMIC JUSTICE AS THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF ANTI-RACISM
In what represents a significant evolution in the African bloc’s diplomatic posture, the Group explicitly recommended that the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent prioritise “global reparatory and economic justice” as a core component of addressing structural inequalities — explicitly linking racial discrimination to the governance of the global economy and the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The statement called for increased investment in education, awareness-raising, and capacity-building, and stressed the importance of robust data collection to measure and address racial disparities. It urged states to establish national accountability mechanisms to monitor and report on racism — an implicit criticism of the gap between treaty ratification and domestic enforcement that characterises many ICERD signatory states.
“The Group urges all States to commit to ICERD and other internationally agreed frameworks against racism, including the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action,” Ambassador Konfourou said. “We must demonstrate renewed political commitment and advance concrete actions to dismantle systemic racism and promote racial justice and equality.”
WHY THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY MATTERS
ICERD, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 21 December 1965 and entering into force in January 1969, remains the primary binding international instrument obligating states to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms. While it is near universal ratification, its enforcement record is widely regarded as patchy – with many states filing reports inconsistently and failing to align domestic law and policy with their treaty obligations.
The African Group’s statement arrives at a moment of heightened global tension around race – from renewed debates over colonial memory in Europe, to the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programmes in the United States, to the ongoing ICJ proceedings brought by South Africa against Israel in which race and systematic dehumanisation feature centrally. Against that backdrop, the Group’s refusal to allow the 60th anniversary to pass as a ceremonial occasion reflects a deeper diplomatic strategy: using multilateral platforms to press for systemic change rather than symbolic solidarity.
