Dr Koku Adomdza, President of the Council said in a statement
issued in London and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra that
members were cautiously optimistic about the declaration, given the
record of the United Nations in not responding urgently to matters
that affect Africans.
“The current state of the African Continent and the conditions of
majority of Africans bear excellent testimony to centuries old
entrenched injustices, which must be eradicated.
“If the UN is serious about this declaration, it must be seen to
rapidly mobilise the oft-cited international community to end the
causes of poverty, disease, record capital flight, discrimination,
exclusion and marginalisation of all forms against Africa and Global
Africans,” Dr Adomdza said.
He said the Council advocates a comprehensive radical overhaul of
the UN system, to transform it into a responsive and inclusive
international agency that reflects the principle of equality.
“Council for Afrika International has studied the UN Programme
for Declaring 2011 as the International Year for People of African
Descent and establish that there is nothing creative, innovative or
radical that indicates and commands serious response to the severity
of afflictions that blight people of African Descent.
“…Africa is the second largest continent in the world, with over
one billion people of the world’s population excluding Diaspora
Africans estimated at another one billion of the global population of
six billion.
“Africa is the scientifically-proven origin of mankind and cradle
of human civilisation and one of the natural resource rich continents
of the world, yet impoverished through a combination of factors
including a hostile international economic disorder, unfair trade and
the monopoly of international commonwealth, science, technology,
engineering and industrialisation by the Global North.”
Dr Adomdza said there were no clear measurable outcomes to
optimise the opportunities that the year presents in terminating the
hardships encountered by Africans.
“Council for Afrika International demands formal United Nations
Recognition of Afrophobia to reflect the reality of distinct hatred,
fear and discrimination against persons of African Ancestry.”
Dr Adomdza expressed the need for Africa to be represented on the
United Nations Security Council with veto powers and the urgent need
of reparations to right the wrongs of colonialism and neocolonialism.
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March. It was instituted in
memory of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, when the racist apartheid
police opened fire and killed 69 unarmed people at a peaceful
demonstration.
The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
affirms that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights”.
“The International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination reminds us of our collective responsibility for
promoting and protecting this ideal,” Dr Adomdza explained.
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