REPARATIONS STRUGGLE MOVES FORWARD AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

n Thursday, July 25th, at the United Nations in New York, another quiet but significant step was taken at the international level in the movement for reparations to the descendants of slavery. At its Consultative Session, the Economic and Social Council voted to fund the establishment of a Working Group of five Independent Experts on People of African Descent. Even though the main purpose of this Working Group is to consider ways of eliminating racial discrimination, it will also be an important forum for the diverse descendants of enslaved Africans all across the Americas, the Caribbean and the slavery Diaspora to meet and begin to make decisions about the means of reparations that would be required to restore the specific groups in the different countries.

This reporter was glad to have been there to witness the vote, invited by Mr. Silis Muhammad and accompanied by three members of All For Reparations and Emancipation (AFRE), Ida Hakim, Maia Hadi, and Hussamideen Fedayeen. AFRE is an international NGO that's been working at the forefront of the effort to gain UN assistance in the restoration and reparations effort. Members of AFRE were at the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) held in Durban, South Africa last September, and now, they had come to the United Nations to hear the debate and see the final outcome of this resolution passed at that ground-breaking conference.

It all started at the WCAR when the participating countries gave birth to a resolution calling for the establishment of this Working Group of five Independent Experts on People of African Descent, which would meet for two one-week sessions during this year, prior to the next meeting of the Commission on Human Rights. It was sent, as a part of the WCAR Declaration and Program of Action, to the General Assembly where it was approved. Next, it went on to the Commission on Human Rights, where it was hotly contested, with the first vote tied with several abstentions. On the second vote, it passed.

From there, it came to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for approval during its Consultative Session, held from July 22 - 26th at the UN. It was crucial that it pass there, for if it didn't, it would essentially die from lack of funding.

When the Chairman of ECOSOC opened the floor for discussion of the resolution containing this decision, a delegate from Denmark spoke first on behalf of the European Union (EU). He stated that the EU would be voting against it because they believed that "the text in this decision before us goes well beyond what was agreed on in Durban." He pointed specifically to the call for the establishment of the Working Group on people of African Descent as one of the things that had been added after that agreement.

The delegations from both Cuba and South Africa, however, strongly disagreed. The Cuban delegate said that while Cuba respects the right of any country to vote as it pleases, they could not stand by when inappropriate statements were made--such as pronouncing that the decision to form this Working Group had not come straight out of the Durban Conference, but had been added later. And a delegate from South Africa agreed that "nothing could be further from the truth" and said they "were shocked by the comments made by the EU."

The United States' statement was short and, unfortunately, pretty much what one would have expected. After saying that the US opposes racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of religious discrimination and related intolerance both here and abroad--all of which can be seriously questioned--the delegate stated, "However we cannot support this resolution. The resolution is based on the flawed outcome of the World Conference against Racism and the Durban Declaration in which the United States did not participate and which the United States does not endorse."

Regardless of how the discussion went beforehand, when the vote was taken it was thrilling to see on the voting board--where each country's vote was instantly registered next to its name and a running tally of all the votes was displayed on the side--that the yes votes climbed higher and faster than the no votes and abstentions. The final count was 30 in favor, 17 against, and 4 abstentions.

On close inspection, it could be seen that the no votes were essentially the United States and European Union along with Australia. Burundi Cameroon, Croatia, Japan and the Republic of Korea abstained. The delegations from the other counties on the Economic and Social Council--from Africa, South and Central America, the Caribbean, China, and the Russian Federation--voted for the resolution.

After a vote is taken, delegates are given the opportunity to explain their vote if they wish. Australia did so, saying that they had voted against the draft decision because of the "divisive political discussions" during the Durban Conference. Hearing this, one couldn't help but think of how frequent it is for white folk to make an accusation that something "divisive" is taking place whenever people of color stand up for their rights.

When asked how she thinks the establishment of this Working Group will impact on the reparations movement, Ida Hakim explained, "The force that brought this working group into existence was the reparations movement, so I'm confident that this working group will deal with the subject of restoration and reparations. Our hope is that it will continue the movement already underway at the UN to unite the descendants of enslaved Africans as one people, from Canada to Chile, to the Islands and across the slavery Diaspora."

This reporter was grateful to have been there at the United Nations to see history in the making, as another victory was won in this great--and very necessary--struggle for justice.

Donna Lamb can be reached at dlamb@gis.net.