Just days ago, I had the profound honor of participating in the fourth session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent at the UN Headquarters (April 14-17). The overarching theme was “Africa and people of African descent: United for reparatory justice in the age of Artificial Intelligence”.
Human rights of women and girls of African descent
For me, a crucial part of that conversation unfolded during the thematic Panel #2: Human rights of women and girls of African descent, on April 15, 2025 (panel description & bios and recording here). The session was expertly curated and moderated by Gaynel Curry, Vice-Chair of the Permanent Forum, whose vision and tireless advocacy for these issues were evident as she skillfully guided our discussion. Her over 23 years of human rights experience at the United Nations, including assignments in Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Timor-Leste, brought invaluable insight to the panel.
Sharing the platform with Ambassador Dr. June Soomer, SLC, JMA – former Chair of the PPFAD, Chair of the Global Campus Council of the University of the West Indies (UWI), and member of the Saint Lucia Reparations Committee – was an honor. Her extensive experience as former Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and Saint Lucian Plenipotentiary Ambassador to CARICOM, OECS, and Diaspora Affairs provided vital context for understanding the historical and ongoing struggles.
We were also privileged to hear from Dr. Diene Keita, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund and UN Assistant Secretary-General, who previously served as Guinea’s Minister for Cooperation and African Integration. Her expertise illuminated the crucial intersection of gender and race, particularly concerning the often-neglected sexual and reproductive health of Black women and girls.
As an African feminist legal scholar and human rights practitioner, my work lives at the crossroads of education, research, and advocacy. Regionally and nationally, I’ve been involved in developing norms, conducting applied research, and empowering the next generation of female leaders as a co-founder of Think Young Women (TYW). It’s through this lens that I approached the panel, acutely aware that the unprecedented challenges facing women and girls of African descent globally – the rising tide of nationalism, war, and populist opposition – are not new. They are modern manifestations of centuries of discrimination, exclusion, and violence, playing out in insidious ways through voter suppression, economic inequality, and state-sanctioned violence, a complex web of oppression disproportionately impacting Black women and girls.
Driven by this understanding, the University of Dayton Human Rights Center, the University of the Bahamas, and the Permanent Forum embarked on an applied research project. Our mission: to dissect how UN treaty monitoring bodies – the very guardians of global human rights – have addressed the specific challenges faced by women and girls of African descent. Our dedicated team, including faculty and three brilliant young women researchers (who joined us in New York), painstakingly analyzed nearly 600 concluding observations from key bodies like the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Human Rights Committee (HRC), and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW), alongside over 1000 supporting documents.
It was with a mix of pride and profound concern that we launched our report just prior to the panel discussion, “Looking Back and Reaching Forward: Commemorating the International Decade for People of African Descent and the Human Rights of Women and Girls,” with Ambassador June Soomer. We envisioned this report as a crucial mirror, reflecting the progress made during the International Decade and illuminating the immense work that still lies ahead.
What the data revealed was a stark and unsettling truth: despite a decade dedicated to people of African descent, progress for Black women and girls within international human rights mechanisms has been woefully insufficient. They remain alarmingly invisible. Their unique and often compounded experiences of discrimination, born from the intersection of race and gender, are consistently under-acknowledged and, as a result, inadequately addressed by the very systems meant to protect them.
The numbers don’t lie: a mere 72 out of 596 concluding observations across all four treaty bodies explicitly mentioned the specific human rights situation of women and girls of African descent during the entire decade. This isn’t a minor oversight; it’s a critical failure. It signifies a profound inability or unwillingness to truly see and respond to the distinct challenges faced by this significant segment of the global population. This invisibility within international scrutiny is not just a statistical anomaly; it has tangible, devastating consequences on the ground. This glaring gap demands urgent and immediate rectification as we move into the Second Decade.
Adding to this concern is the broader backlash we’ve witnessed over the past decade against gender equality and human rights. This regression is marked by a clear rejection of intersectionality – the very framework needed to understand the compounded vulnerabilities of Black women and girls – and a stubborn resistance to genuine racial and gender justice. Tragically, even when intersectionality is invoked, it’s often reduced to a tokenistic gesture, a superficial nod that masks a deep reluctance by states and other actors to engage in the transformative work that authentic, intersectional efforts demand.
The voices and experiences of Black women and girls can no longer remain unseen. There is a clear demand for international human rights mechanisms to truly acknowledge, understand, and respond to their specific needs. The promise of human rights must extend to all, finally bringing this often-overlooked group into full and vibrant visibility.
To paraphrase, “Our freedom is sweet. It will be sweeter when we are all free”—and this includes, unequivocally, the full and equal enjoyment of human rights by all women and girls of African descent
You might also like
Leave a reply