Sema Live | Episode 10 – Recognition, Rights, Equity and Dignity – Exploring the establishment of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Full discussion

In the year of 2021 the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (the Permanent Forum) was established as both a consultative mechanism and an Advisory Body to the United Nations, regarding improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent.  The Permanent Forum consists of 10 members, each of whom are expert in their respective fields and who collectively are representative of what we at Hosted in Africa would term Global Africa. The permanent Forum held its first session in Geneva in December 2022.
 
We are thrilled and honoured to be presenting the conversation we had with our  guests, 2 of whom are members of the Permanent Forum Gaynel Curry and Michael McEachrane  and  Johannes Buabeng-Baidoo, doctoral candidate at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. 

In this episode we grapple with a range of subject matters relating to the establishment of the Permanent Forum, placed within the context of histories of African people over the last several centuries.  Such histories consist, but are not limited to, emancipation efforts, the push for independence, for social, economic, civil, and political rights, all bound up in the fight against racism, and for equity and dignity.

The resulting spread of African people across the globe, a phenomenon that continues to this day, has itself created an important African diasporic dynamic and formation, which the Permanent Forum has as its central focus.  And yet People of African Descent in the diaspora, by definition, enjoy an inseparable nexus with the continent of Africa and its people. 
 
We invite you to engage in this powerful, rich and honest discussion about issues of race, rights, responsibilities and human dignity, areas of life that remain at the forefront of human relations in the 21st century. We believe that through wholesome conversation alongside action that people across the planet can individually and collectively take ownership of issues afflicting their lives and work toward long term solutions.