At UNARC, we know that the stakes are high in 2025. We also know that it is in difficult times that we must unite, evaluate, meet and organize. This is our time and UNARC is an ideal opportunity and space for this global organization needed to drive change. Looking ahead to 2025 it is imperative that we remain united, active, in communication and with a clear vision. Together we will continue to make change possible.
For our part and as UNARC staff we will continue to collectively co-create, WITH YOU, a world where we all have access to justice, dignity, peace and joy.
This newsletter highlights our activities in the latter half of 2024. From July until this date, UNARC staff and members remained dedicated to fostering an accessible, inclusive, and affirming environment for human rights defenders — especially those directly impacted by law enforcement violence — to advance their work and uplift Africans and People of African Descent.
From August 26th until the 29th UNARC’s team participated in ISHR’s strategy retreat held between Geneva, Switzerland and Annecy, France. During the capacity and team building activities, we were able to exchange knowledge and deepen our holistic understanding of the UN system; focusing our learning on key discussions concerning organisational development, and design thinking considering the current political, economic, social, legal, technological and environmental trends. Our participation in the retreat was very fruitful and gave us new lengths to read the current state of the world and take action, improving the existing wins and working on many challenges such as the decrease in funding for racial justice.
The UNARC team was in Geneva for the 57th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC57), where we accompanied three Afro-Brazilian women human rights defenders in a series of meetings and events. As always our focus was on amplifying the voices of families directly impacted by police violence, central to the fight for Black Freedom. These defenders included Ana Paula Oliveira (Mães de Manguinhos and mother of Johnatha Oliveira, victim of police brutality in Rio de Janeiro), Rute Fiuza (Mães da Bahia and mother of Davi Fiuza, victim of enforced disappearance in Bahia), and Maria José Menezes (Coalizão Negra por Direitos). Please read below for a description of the activities undertaken during this mission.
[Learn more about our work at HRC57 here].
During our advocacy efforts from 30 September to 4 October, we held multiple engagements with key UN mechanisms, including meetings with the secretariats of the Special Rapporteurs (SR) on Racism, on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, EMLER, the Anti-Racism Section of OHCHR, and Ms. June Soomer, Chairperson of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. We also had discussions with the Brazilian Mission in Geneva and the South African representative at the UN. All of these UN mechanisms and State missions listened attentively to the cases of Johnatha and Davi, and explained to the mothers the next steps they can take within the UN on their path to justice.
On the civil society front, we were delighted to meet with fellow UNARC members such as:
We participated in their side event titled “Racial Equity and Global Governance: How the UN and G20 Agendas Can Mutually Strengthen Each Other” on Wednesday 2 October. The event brought together high-level speakers and experts on racial equity and global governance from both the UN and G20 arenas. The panelists were: Sara Hamood – from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Barbara Reynolds – President of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, June Soomer – Chair of Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, Thembela Ngculu – Representative of the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the UN in Geneva, Andre Simas Magalhaes – Representative of the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN in Geneva, and Lamar Bailey Karamañites – Manager of the UN Antiracism Coalition (UNARC).
We believe that international racial justice movements are built not only by bringing our shared goals to the table and joining forces and tools in the struggle for a better reality for historically oppressed people but also by sharing time, making space for community, getting to know each other, for talking about who we are, our vision and thus strengthening the foundations of strong communities with deep roots that can withstand all kinds of setbacks and challenges. With this in mind we had an informal dinner with some UNARC members present in Geneva at the moment: Geledés, Race and Equality, Racismo MX, RMAAD, ISHR, Coalizão Negra por Direitos, and independent researcher and member of the coalition Dr. Camila Andrade.
On Tuesday 1 October, we met with several members of APT at their Geneva office to discuss possible ways they can support the mothers of Johnatha and Davi in their search for justice.
Watch here/ Article: Read here
During the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue (EID) on racial justice where EMLER thematic and Brazil visit report, as well as the OHCHR´s thematic report were presented concerns were raised by UNARC about the international community’s insufficient response to systemic racism, particularly regarding the need for concrete measures and accountability. Maria José Menezes from Coalizão Negra por Direitos represented UNARC in the delivery of the statement. During the EID Menezes as well as several coalition members repeated our common ask urging States to implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) and the Agenda for Transformative Change, and to proclaim a Second International Decade for People of African descent.
Watch here/ Article: Read here
Rute Fiuza demands justice for her son Davi, 16 years old, who was forcibly disappeared by 23 military police officers in Brazil in October 2014.
Ana Paula delivered a powerful statement during the Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WG of PAD) (click here to watch starting at minute 01:29:35). We thank Geledes for kindly providing their slot for Ana Paula to deliver this important statement, for all the support and for working collaboratively during the session.
The UN Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement (EMLER) presented its critical Brazil country visit report, during the 57th session of the Human Rights Council. This highly anticipated report addresses structural and institutional racism, the excessive use of force, and other human rights violations impacting Africans and people of African descent in Brazil. This side event centered on Brazilian women whose lives have been deeply affected by law enforcement violence and racial injustice. They shared personal experiences with structural racism, highlighted their strategies to fight for change and discussed various solutions sought by Black communities in Brazil. We want to show appreciation to our panelists, Ana Paula Oliveira, co-founder of Mães de Manguinhos; Rute Fiuza, co-founder of Mães da Bahia; Maria José Menezes (Zezé), representative of Coalizão Negra por Direitos; Akua Kuenyehia, EMLER’s chairperson; Nayara Khaly Silva Sanfo, UNARC’s coordinator, and the moderator, Isis Alves from Race and Equality. We thank the organizers and co-sponsors for their support and shared work with UNARC: ISHR, Coalizão Negra por Direitos, Mães de Manguinhos, Mães da Bahia, Race and Equality; Ulster University and APT. Watch the event with English subtitles here, and the original with Portuguese subtitles here.
In addition to the oral statements delivered in person during the mission with the mothers and the Brazilian human rights defender, UNARC also provided space for another member to deliver a joint statement via video.
Eu sou Eu statement: During the General Debate on Item 9, Cristiano Silva, a survivor of the Brazilian penitentiary system, denounced the ongoing human rights violations suffered by Afrobrazilians particularly within the prison system. At the end of this intervention, Silva urged the Brazilian authorities to acknowledge and change this reality.
UNARC was successful in ensuring that the coalition-proposed language was kept in the yearly resolution “From Rhetoric to Reality: a global call for concrete action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”. The informal meetings for this resolution became heated spaces where several States wanted language on reparations (claiming lack of consensus) and language on EMLER (claiming the existence of another resolution) to be removed. At the end, through several interventions at the informals as well as bilateral advocacy, UNARC was successful at showing the relevance of this language for civil society. The language was kept and the resolution was adopted with 30 States in favor, 5 against and 12 abstinences.
9 new organizations are now members of the coalition and 4 of them come from countries where the coalition had few or no members: Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Italy.
After the coalition’s initial request for the UN Expert Mechanism to Promote Racial Justice and Racial Equality in the context of Law Enforcement (EMLER) to visit the United States, Brazil and Colombia during its first mandate, many movements, organizations and local partners continued working at the national level on pushing for these visits. ILEX Acción Jurídica has been a key organization in requesting information on the visit of EMLER, as it has sent several requests to the Colombian State, especially through 2023-2024 (see the joint letter from Colombian organisations here). The local antiracism movement work was paramount for the acceptance of the visit by Colombia which will happen during the first semester of 2025. Congratulations to ILEX and the entire Afrocolombian movement on this victory!
Geledes – Instituto da Mulher Negra had the initiative to create a stakeholder group of People of African Descent to engage with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Following a presentation in one of UNARC´s general meetings, many UNARC members joined them in their efforts to consolidate the group. Currently the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders working group, which is responsible for evaluating these types of requests, is in process of completing their analysis. We look forward to more positive news on this initiative and congratulate Geledes as we consider this a step towards strengthening the antiracism community.
In 2024, UNARC supported the essential work carried out by the Instituto Resgata Cidadão, which through its “Carandiru Memory” educational program brings to the attention of society as a whole the right to memory and non-repetition and prepares young people who have been through the prison system for the job market and the full exercise of their citizenship. UNARC’s team visited Parque da Juventude (São Paulo, Brazil), where Espaço Memória Carandiru is based, and the Museu Penitenciário Paulista, to learn more about the institute’s fight for resistance, memory and reparation. (Learn more here)
2025 was designated as the “Year of Reparations” (more here) by the African Union. This is a significant moment, and many organizations and social movements will focus their work on reparations.
We understand that reparations for People of African Descent are not seen in the same way in all countries, and even within the same country, there are different views on what reparations should be. In this sense, we emphasize the words of Audre Lorde when she said “Very often, the need for unity is misinterpreted as a need for homogeneity.” Foremost, UNARC’s focus on this issue in no way means a need for homogeneity in how reparations are perceived in the different territories.
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