Written and Oral Statements to the UN in 2002
Statements delivered in 2002 were heard and responded to by the UN.
Documents of 2002 in order of presentation:
- Oral Statement to the 54th Session of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
- Written Statement to the 54th Session of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights 2002
- Oral Statement to the 8th Session of the Working Group on Minorities (English)
- Oral Statement to the 8th Session of the Working Group on Minorities (Spanish)
- Written Statement to the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights 2002
- Oral Statement to the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights
1) Oral Statement to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Fifty-Fourth Session (2002)
Agenda Item 5 (c)
In 1997 and 1998 the Sub-Commission passed two resolutions of concern to us. The first called upon the Working Group on Minorities to consider how the Sub-Commission in its future work might usefully address the continuing legal, political and economic legacies of the African slave trade, as experienced by Black communities throughout the Americas. The second urged the Working Group on Minorities to include on its agenda an item on issues related to the legacies of the slave trade on the Black communities throughout the Americas.
At the 4th Session of the Working Group on Minorities we saw that the protections offered minorities under Article 27 of the ICCPR did not apply to us, the descendants of enslaved Africans, for we have been denied a collective international identity and denied our original mother tongues, cultures and religions, which is the total destruction of our essence, although some of us are unaware.
One of the decisions of the Working Group on Minorities was to assign Mr. Jose Bengoa to write a paper on the existence and recognition of minorities. This paper was a tremendous benefit to us, for it started the process of our recognition as minorities undergoing ethnogenesis.
In 2001 the Working Group participated in a Saturday session held in Geneva, and in a Conference held in Montreal, Canada in order to listen to our issues. The Working Group also listened to our issues at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban and at a historic meeting in La Ceiba, Honduras.
In Honduras it was shown that "minorities" is an evolving term: it could denote who has the minority of power and wealth, and clearly the Afro Descendants are usually the minority in that respect. Also in Honduras we Afro Descendants, of some 19 countries, recognized ourselves and decided, by concensus, that we wish to be recognized by the UN as Afro Descendant Minorities.
The Working Group on Minorities has acknowledged our decision to be recognized as Afro Descendant Minorities. We ask the Sub-Commission to acknowledge our decision also.
In conclusion, we recognize that as minorities we do not have full equality before the law due to the total destruction of our essence, our identity, which, as we have seen, is the loss of our identity internationally. We believe the reinstatement of us to the human family, and reparation can take place with the continued effort of the Sub-Commission and the Working Group on Minorities.
Mr. Silis Muhammad
2) Written Statement to the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Fifty-Fourth Session
Provisional Agenda Item 5: Prevention of Discrimination
(c) Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
August 2002
The following statement is offered by Mr. Silis Muhammad on behalf of the Afro Descendant Minority in the United States of America.
We know that it is through the resolutions of the Sub-Commission and the diligent efforts of the Working Group on Minorities that we Afro Descendants approach collective human rights. We wish to continue to trust the Sub-Commission and the expertise of the Working Group on Minorities.
In 1997 the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights passed resolution, #E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1997/5, in which the Sub-Commission called upon the Working Group on Minorities to consider how the Sub-Commission in its future work might usefully address the continuing legal, political and economic legacies of the African slave trade, as experienced by Black communities throughout the Americas. Following that resolution, in 1998, the Working Group on Minorities invited us to attend their 4th Session. We did attend that Session, and we have continued to attend and offer statements to all sessions of the Sub-Commission, the Commission on Human Rights and the Working Group on Minorities since that time.
At the 4th Session of the Working Group on Minorities we examined the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities, and it appeared to us that the so-called African Americans did not fit in the United Nations system. We had been told we are "minorities" by the United States Government, but we saw that we did not enjoy such recognition internationally. We saw that the protections offered minorities under Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities did not apply to us, for we do not have our original identity, our mother tongue, culture or religion. At that first meeting one of the esteemed members of the Working Group on Minorities said, "We will have to find out where you fit." Today I thank him. Over the years this Working Group has demonstrated that it is not willing to leave us out.
One of the decisions of the 4th Session of the Working Group on Minorities was to assign a member of the Working Group to write a paper on the existence and recognition of minorities. The paper was presented in the year 2000 as document #E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2000/WP.2. This expert paper has been of tremendous benefit to us, for it started the process of our recognition as minorities undergoing ethnogenesis. During the 52nd Session of the Sub-Commission we expected to hear a presentation of the paper, and we were disappointed when it was not presented. We continue to ask the experts of the Sub-Commission to discuss our issues on the Sub-Commission floor and consider this Working Paper of the Working Group on Minorities, which we believe offers the most advanced understanding of our situation.
In 1998 the Sub-Commission passed resolution, #E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1998/24, in which the Sub-Commission urged the Working Group on Minorities to include on its agenda an item on issues related to the legacies of the slave trade on the Black communities throughout the Americas. In response to this Sub-Commission resolution, the 5th Session of the Working Group on Minorities placed African descendants in the Americas on its agenda. This was the first time, to my knowledge, that we were placed on the agenda of any UN meeting.
From that time forward the Working Group on Minorities has continued to address our issues in a most forthright manner. In the year 2000 the Working Group announced that it would hold regional seminars to study the issues of African descendants in the Americas. In 2001 the Working Group participated in a special Saturday session held in Geneva, and in a Conference held in Montreal, Canada in order to listen specifically to our issues. The Working Group also listened to our issues at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban.
Then, in 2002 the Working Group on Minorities held a long awaited and historic meeting in La Ceiba, Honduras. At that meeting we recognized and affirmed that "minority" is an evolving term that can be used creatively. Rather than looking at majority or minority with respect to numbers only, we looked at the terms with respect to who has the majority of the power and wealth, and who has the minority of the power and wealth, and South Africa is a great example of this axiom. When minority is seen in that light then we, all of us who are descendants of enslaved Africans, are in the minority.
In Honduras we descendants, as a newly emerging family of some 240 million souls, were able to determine the name by which we would like to be known in the UN. We are now in agreement that we recognize ourselves and we wish to be recognized by the UN as Afro Descendants. A definition of the term Afro Descendants is forthcoming from us. At the Honduras meeting we also made the decision, by consensus, to approach the UN under the category of Minorities.
The Working Group on Minorities has acknowledged our decision to be recognized as Afro Descendant Minorities. We ask the Sub-Commission to acknowledge our decision also. We urge the Sub-Commission to strongly support the efforts of the Working Group on Minorities on our behalf, as we see this Working Group as having gained invaluable expertise on our issues. Through the efforts of the Working Group we have begun to establish a foundation upon which we can proceed in our efforts, as recognition, restoration and reconciliation are our primary concerns.
In conclusion, we recognize that as Minorities we do not have full equality before the law due to the intentional destruction of our original identity, and yet we believe appropriate reparation and restoration can take place with the continued effort of the Sub-Commission and the Working Group on Minorities.
3) Oral Statement to the Working Group on Minorities
8th Session, May 2002
Greetings Mr. Chairman and Members of the Working Group on Minorities. We know that it is through the diligent efforts of the Working Group on Minorities that we Afro Descendants approach collective human rights, and we wish to continue to trust the expertise of this Working Group.
If we learned anything in La Ceiba, Honduras we learned that minority is an evolving term that can be used creatively. Rather than looking at majority or minority with respect to numbers only, we looked at the terms with respect to who has the majority of the power and wealth, and who has the minority of the power and wealth. When minority is seen in that light then we, all of us Afro Descendants, are in the minority, and South Africa is a great example of this axiom.
It has been five years since I first came before this group. At that time I had examined the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities, and it appeared to me that African Americans did not fit in the UN system. I felt that the protections offered minorities did not apply to us, for we do not have our original identity, our mother tongue, culture or religion. At that first meeting one of the esteemed members of this group said, "We will have to find out where you fit." Today I thank him. Over the years this Working Group has demonstrated that it is not willing to leave us out.
In 1998 the Working Group on Minorities assigned one of its members to write a paper on the existence and recognition of minorities. The paper has been of tremendous benefit, for it started the process of our recognition as minorities undergoing ethnogenesis. Today I thank the esteemed expert who wrote that paper.
In 1999 the Working Group on Minorities placed African descendants in the Americas on its agenda. This was the first time, to my knowledge, that we were placed on the agenda of any UN meeting. In the year 2000 the Working Group announced that it would hold regional seminars to study the issues of African Americans. In 2001 the Working Group participated in a special Saturday session in order to listen to our issues. In 2002 the Working Group on Minorities held a historic meeting in Honduras where we, as a newly emerging family of some 240 million souls, were able to determine the name by which we would like to be known in the UN. We are now in agreement that we will approach the UN as Afro Descendant Minorities.
Mr. Silis Muhammad
4) Intervención presentada en el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Minorías
8ª sesión, Mayo 2002
Les presento Sr. Presidente y Miembros del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Minorías mis cordiales saludos. Sabemos que gracias a los diligentes esfuerzos de este Grupo, que todos nosotros Afro-descendientes, colaboramos estrechamente por los derechos humanos colectivos, y esperamos seguir confiando con la experiencia de este Grupo de Trabajo.
Sí algo aprendimos en La Ceiba, Honduras, es que las minorías forman un conjunto de creatividad. En vez de mirar solamente al número con respecto a la mayoría o a la minoría, miramos al conjunto con respecto a quien tiene la mayoría del poder y de la riqueza y quien tiene la minoría del poder y la riqueza. Cuando la minoría es vista con transparencia, entonces, todos nosotros afro descendientes pertenecemos a la minoría y África del Sur es un gran ejemplo.
Han transcurrido 5 años desde mi primera venida a este Grupo. Desde entonces yo revisé la Declaración de los Derechos de las Minorías y me pareció que los Afro-americanos no se encontraban dentro del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas. Sentí que la protección dada a las Minorías no encajaba con nosotros, al no tener nuestra propia identidad, nuestra lengua materna, nuestra cultura, religión. En esa primera reunión, uno de los estimados miembros de este Grupo dijo "tendremos que buscar una salida para que puedan entrar". Ahora, se lo agradezco. A través de los años este Grupo de Trabajo nos ha demostrado que no nos quiere dejar afuera.
En 1998, el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Minorías asignó a uno de sus miembros a escribir un informe sobre la existencia y el reconocimiento de las minorías. Este informe ha sido de gran beneficio, y así comenzó el proceso de nuestro reconocimiento como minorías. Hoy, le doy las gracias al estimado experto que escribió dicho informe.
En 1999, EL Grupo de Trabajo sobre Minorías tenía en su agenda a los Afro-descendientes de América. Esta fue la primera vez, a mi conocer que se puso en la Agenda de las reuniones del Sistema de Naciones Unidas. En el año 2000, el Grupo de Trabajo anunció que se formarían Grupos de Trabajo Regionales para estudiar los temas de los Afro-descendientes. En el 2001, el Grupo de Trabajo participó, durante un sábado en una reunión muy especial para discutir los temas de afro-descendientes. En el 2002, el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Minorías celebró una reunión histórica en Honduras, y dio como resultado una nueva familia emergente de 240 millones de almas, que acordaron determinar el nombre por el cual les gustaría ser llamados dentro del marco de las Naciones Unidas, en el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Minorías como Afro-descendientes.
5) Written Statement to the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights under
Provisional Agenda Item 14. Specific groups and individuals (b) Minorities
March/April 2002
1. The United Nations has not, as yet, recognized us: we who are the African American peoples or nations in North, Central and South America and the Diaspora. Four hundred years of plantation slavery and its lingering effects have left us deprived of and denied our mother tongue and thus outside a definite place within the UN system. For the past six years, on behalf of the African American people in the United States, Mr. Silis Muhammad has traveled to the UN at Geneva to deliver numerous prayers for recognition and restoration. He has asked that the UN to find or make a category in which we, the African American, will fit; for at present, we have no collective human rights.
2. In the Americas Region and throughout the Diaspora we, who are the descendants of slaves, are filled with dissatisfaction, and many of us do not know its source. The African American people in the United States are perhaps the first to recognize the source of our pain and the gravity of our situation. We know that we have been forcibly cut off, severed from our original identity: our mother tongue, religion and culture: those very things that give life to peoples. We have been as "dead" for 400 years. Today we are experiencing, in reality, the process of ethnogenesis: a word that describes the coming to life again of a people who have been scattered, forcibly cut off, severed; now seemingly assimilated, within the country of our domicile.
3. We have cried out in many ways over many years for the restoration of our dignity as a people. Yet the U.S. Government and other nations commit, daily, the international wrongful act of denying our existence while claiming respect for human rights. It is our desire to reconstitute ourselves and reconstruct our lost ties, with UN assistance. It is also our desire to receive reparations from the U.S. Government for the ongoing loss of our mother tongue and our internationally recognized political identity.
4. We recognize that the United Nations has made some attempts to assist us. In 1997 the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights passed a resolution, #E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1997/5, in which the Sub-Commission called upon the Working Group on Minorities to consider how the Sub-Commission in its future work might usefully address the continuing legal, political and economic legacies of the African slave trade, as experienced by Black communities throughout the Americas. In 1998 the Sub-Commission again passed a resolution, #E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1998/24, in which the Sub-Commission urged the Working Group on Minorities to include on its agenda an item on issues related to the legacies of the slave trade on the Black communities throughout the Americas.
5. The Working Group on Minorities is aware that we, the African American people, do not fit into a category within the UN system due to the immoral slavery and its illegal lingering effects: especially the deliberate acts of the U.S. Government. In 1998 the Working Group assigned Mr. Jose Bengoa to write a working paper on the existence and recognition of minorities. In the year 2000 this working paper, #E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2000/WP.2, was presented to the Working Group on Minorities, and accepted by the group. In the paper Mr. Bengoa demonstrated an astute understanding of the ethnogenesis of African Americans. Regrettably this distinguished paper has not been selected for presentation on the Sub-Commission floor.
6. To date, the Sub-Commission has not invited the Working Group on Minorities to report specifically on the work and study that it has been engaged in regarding African Americans. Consequently, the Sub-Commission has not addressed the continuing legal, political and economic legacies of the African slave trade as it had in 1997 indicated a desire to do. While we appreciate and highly value the efforts of the Working Group on Minorities on our behalf, we believe that little progress can be made in our recognition and restoration without the continued interest of the Sub-Commission.
7. Therefore we urgently recommend that the Commission on Human Rights pass a resolution requesting that the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights place African Americans on its agenda, alongside Indigenous Peoples and Minorities. Placement on the agenda of the Sub-Commission would be a welcome first step in official UN recognition of the African Americans.
8. As the World Conference Against Racism demonstrated to the world, African Americans in the Americas Region and the Diaspora are united in a mass call for reparations. In response to the mass call for reparations, the World Conference, in it's Program of Action, made a request of the Commission on Human Rights as follows: "7. Requests the Commission on Human Rights to consider establishing a working group or other mechanism of the United Nations to study the problems of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent living in the African Diaspora and make proposals for the elimination of racial discrimination against people of African descent."
9. The World Conference Against Racism, in paragraph 14 of its Declaration, recognizes that for African Americans, racial discrimination is a consequence of slavery. Thus we would welcome a working group or other mechanism of the Commission on Human Rights if the mechanism has as its primary focus the lingering effects of slavery, and the restoration of our people. In particular, we would request that the proposed working group or other mechanism focus upon the establishment of category in which the UN and world community can recognize African Americans collectively and provide for reparations and restoration of the human rights of the African American people. We would also urge the Commission on Human Rights to take advantage of the work that has already been accomplished by the Working Group on Minorities on behalf of African Americans, and in particular the scholarship of Mr. Jose Bengoa.
10. In our view, and in the view of the organizations and leaders that support us, the dissatisfaction of our people will not be addressed with solutions that are ultimately superficial. The United Nations, and the national governments that have authority over us, cannot repair the damage done by slavery with reparations such as development money, affirmative action or anti-discrimination laws alone. We have lost our original identity and we have been forced to assume the identity of our slave masters. One man cannot live in another man's "skin." It is against nature, and inhumane. Our dissatisfaction will increase until our ethnogenesis is recognized and our human rights are restored.
11. At the World Conference Against Racism the U.S. Government turned its back and walked out on our cries with the same disdain that it has shown internally toward our cries for 400 years. Today we turn to the Commission on Human Rights and the world community with increasing urgency. We fear that if our prayer for UN recognition of our existence is not heard, and if restoration does not take place, we will not be able to hold back a flood of anger that the world only glimpsed in Durban, South Africa.
6) Oral Statement to the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights
Agenda Item 14 (b) Specific Groups and Individuals: Minorities
March/April 2002
We, the Afro Descendant Minority living in the United States of America, would like to thank the United Nations for requesting that the Commission on Human Rights consider establishing a working group or other mechanism of the United Nations to study the problems of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent living in the African Diaspora and make proposals for the elimination of racial discrimination against people of African descent.
While we appreciate the encouragement to States to deal with the problems Afro Descendants face, a study of the problems of racial discrimination would not address the root problem, especially the negation of the essence of the victims. Racial discrimination is just the end product of our having suffered through slavery. Therefore, it is not enough to address the issue of discrimination ONLY. Justice calls for an examination of the entire cause-and-effect phenomena stemming from our having been slaves!
We, in our search for our identity, have declared ourselves Afro Descendants. It is our identity which was taken, and it is the lack our identity which is a constant source of anger and despair today. Because we lack our identity we have suffered the denial by history of many of our rights. Economically and developmentally we are currently suffering the aftermath of what took place during slavery.
The UN has noted that some States have taken the initiative to apologize and have paid reparation, where appropriate, for grave and massive human rights violations. Afro Descendants have had our mother tongue, culture and religion forcibly removed: hence, our loss of identity and the negation of our essence. We Afro Descendants have not existed in the United Nations system. Therefore our prayer is for official recognition of our self-chosen collective identity and reparations.
Since racial discrimination is found in the "negation of the essence of the victims," this is our proposal for the elimination of racial discrimination.
Mr. Silis Muhammad
