GENEVA (1 DECEMBER 2022) – The Permanent Forum on People of African Descent will hold its first session from 5 to 8 December 2022 at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva. Over 500 people are expected to attend, including human rights activists and leaders of African descent and State representatives. The discussions will focus on the fight against systemic racism, climate justice, reparatory justice, and equality for all people of African descent. H.E. Francia Márquez, Vice-President of Colombia, will address the Permanent Forum in person during its opening session (10:00-11:00am) on Monday 5 December. The opening session will also include statements and video-statements from the UN Secretary-General, senior UN Officials and civil society representatives of African descent. The UN Human Rights Office will also host two evening events open to all at the Maison Internationale des Associations.* On 6 December, academics and students of African descent will address “Education, People of African Descent and the Fight Against Racism: A story of access, representation, activism, and curricula.” On 7 December, filmmakers of African descent Rokhaya Diallo (France), Rachel M’Bon (Switzerland), Joyce Prado (Brazil) and Cai Thomas (USA) will discuss “People of African Descent in Films and TV: Telling our Own Stories and Fighting for Representation”, after a screening of extracts of their recent documentaries. The Permanent Forum was established in August 2021 by the General Assembly as a consultative mechanism for people of African descent. The Permanent Forum is composed of 10 experts whose primary goal is to contribute to the inclusion of people of African descent in their societies without any kind of discrimination. Additionally, the Permanent Forum has been tasked with contributing to the elaboration of a UN declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent. For more information on the programme of work, including on the evening and side events, please consult the online schedule. ENDS For information of how to participate to the Forum, please consult the webpage of the Forum. For media requests, please write to pfpad@un.org (please stipulate “media request” in the subject of the email). * Maison Internationale des Associations, Rue des Savoises 15, 1205 Genève