On 25 March 2021, history was made for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African\u00a0 Group with the debut of the first joint statement of the two regions (68 member states, over\u00a0 one-third of the United Nations\u2019 193 members), under the umbrella of the new geopolitical\u00a0 grouping, known as AfCAR (Africa Group-CARICOM), an initiative whose founding was co-led by\u00a0the Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives of Grenada and Botswana, H.E. Ms. Keisha A.\u00a0 McGuire and H.E. Mr. Collen Vixen Kelapile.<\/p>\n
CARICOM and African Ambassadors, together with the United Nations Secretary-General, the\u00a0 President of the UN General Assembly and wider membership, converged at the United Nations\u00a0 General Assembly Hall to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims\u00a0 of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, held under the theme, \u201cEnding Slavery\u2019s Legacy of\u00a0 Racism: A Global Imperative for Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The AfCAR statement was delivered on behalf of the 68-member grouping by Her Excellency\u00a0 Ambassador Carolyn Birkett, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Guyana to the\u00a0 United Nations, who noted in her address that, \u201cthe horror of slavery separated 12 million\u00a0 Africans from the motherland and created a diaspora in the Caribbean. Separated from our\u00a0 families, now we are standing here reunited with one voice. Given this historic reality and linkage,\u00a0 it is indeed fitting that AfCAR\u2019s first statement within the United Nations should come as we\u00a0 commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the\u00a0 Transatlantic Slave Trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
AfCAR also expressed that the 2020 events sparked by the death of George Floyd in the United\u00a0 States and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement brought into sharp focus the need\u00a0 to pay more attention to addressing the legacy of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. The\u00a0 Group further highlighted that the legacy of slavery is seen today in entrenched and systemic\u00a0 racism, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed deep disparities in the care and outcomes\u00a0 for persons of African descent and other minorities impacted by the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
With the outcry of Black Lives Matter heard around the world, and in what could only be\u00a0 described as a most poignant moment of the Commemoration, the General Assembly, including\u00a0 the President of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, and the Secretary-General of the United\u00a0 Nations, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, stood in solidarity with ending racism.<\/p>\n
The 68 members of AfCAR also highlighted the issue of reparations, which is \u201cpivotal to\u00a0 restorative justice and to creating opportunity and equity for those whose limbs and lives were\u00a0 used without mercy or remuneration to build societies and strong economies\u201d. The Group\u00a0 further underscored the role that the multilateral system could play to ensure that the stain of\u00a0 slavery is finally lifted from the lives of people of African descent.<\/p>\n
Now that AfCAR has made its debut within the United Nations, the group is expected to enhance and deepen its cooperation and be more active on issues of common interest on the international\u00a0 stage.<\/p>\n
ESTABLISHMENT OF AfCAR<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
In February 2020, upon the initiative of the Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives of\u00a0 Grenada and Botswana, H.E. Ms. Keisha A. McGuire and H.E. Mr. Collen Vixen Kelapile, the\u00a0 Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives of the African Group and CARICOM Caucus at the\u00a0 United Nations in New York formally agreed to establish the African Group-CARICOM (AfCAR)\u00a0 Collaboration Initiative. In addition, the regional steering committees for the initiative comprise\u00a0 of, from the African Group, the ambassadors of Algeria, Botswana (co-Chair), Cameroon, Eritrea,\u00a0 Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, and from the CARICOM Caucus, the ambassadors of\u00a0 Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada (co-Chair), Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n
The purpose of AfCAR is broadly anchored on reinforcing the historical bonds between African\u00a0 and CARICOM states, based on common aspirations and the three principles of solidarity,\u00a0 partnership and multilateralism for the common benefit of the two regions.<\/p>\n
In particular, AfCAR seeks to ensure a structured and coordinated approach and cooperation on\u00a0 issues of common interest on the agenda of the United Nations at Headquarters in New York and\u00a0 thus facilitate the desire of African and CARICOM Heads of State and Government and the\u00a0 aspirations of the peoples of the two interconnected regions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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