Conference of the African Diaspora in the Americas

Honoring the ancestry and celebrating the diversity of the African diasporic voices of experts, cultural personalities, social movements’ leaders, and other civil society representatives;

Recalling the Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, held in Dakar in 2004, the 2nd Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, held in Salvador in 2006, and the Global African Diaspora Summit, held in Johannesburg in 2012;

Reaffirming the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in 2001, looking back on the proclamation of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), and supporting its renewal for an additional ten years;

Celebrating the Decade of African Roots and the African Diaspora (2021 to 2031) established by the African Union;

Considering the need to establish a new paradigm of humanity that includes the philosophical and epistemological values inherited from Africa by the Diaspora, such as circularity, playfulness, and the matriarchal foundation;

We, the participants of the 1st Conference of the African Diaspora in the Americas, gathered in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, on August 29 and 30, 2024, hereby address the officials of the African Union and of the countries in the Americas who will meet on August 31, 2024, as well as the 9th Pan-African Congress in Lomé, Togo.

from October 29 to November 2, 2024, to present the following recommendations on “Pan-Africanism, Memory, Reconstruction, Reparation, and Restitution:”

1. Strengthen the Ubuntu philosophy within Pan-Africanism in the 21st century, characterized by the recognition of the cultural, spiritual and linguistic unity and circularity of African peoples and the Diaspora, composed of their emigrant communities and populations of African origin living in countries of other continents.
2. Incorporate the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the Ubuntu philosophy into efforts to seek reparations and reform international institutions and policies within states, thereby increasing the representation of African countries in international organizations and forums and coordinating positions among African and African diasporic countries on topics of common interest in these forums and organizations.
3. Establish a permanent agency, preferably in Salvador, Bahia, in the spirit of the establishment of the 6th Region of the African Union, as a means and tool to recover a history of Pan-Africanism, that acknowledges the contributions of women, youth, grassroots organizations etc., in order to develop a Pan-African consciousness among the collectives of African peoples, using traditional and contemporary technologies.
4. Organize, strengthen, and fund global academic, educational, artistic, cultural, and political networks for dialogue, preservation, and the right to memory, ancestral and spiritual knowledge, and the shared history between African populations and the Diaspora, including through the creation of cartographic materials.
5. Identify, take stock of, and promote the cultural heritage of African diasporic peoples, highlighting the importance of women as central figures in the production and preservation of identity, knowledge, culture, and memory.
6. Encourage the creation of transnational initiatives for museums, libraries and repositories of the African Diaspora and a network of African and diasporic archives focused on safeguarding and providing access to documentation in various formats.
7. Encourage the creation of comprehensive educational programs that integrate the history and memories of Africa and the Diaspora at all levels of education, with the support of specific forums and funds for the exchange of best practices in African and African diasporic countries.
8. Combat algorithmic racism in the context of new technologies through regulation and by increasing the representation of Black people in social media, ensuring the integrity of information about the history of Africa and the African Diaspora, and establishing an open database of relevant information for the preservation of African and African diasporic memory.
9. Strengthen, promote, and adequately fund anti-racist policies for sustainable development and the promotion of rights, which may include: restructuring energy mixes, with the development of renewable and safe sources; encouraging efficient food production and programs to combat hunger, poverty, and food insecurity; promoting sustainability and environmental justice; overhauling justice systems, including criminal and penal systems; expanding health strategies that take into account the epidemiological characteristics of diverse countries and enable actions to prevent and eradicate diseases, as well as the promotion of mental health; providing education and curricula that recognize the contributions of African and African diasporic peoples, their knowledge, culture, traditions, writers, and strengthen black identity, with special attention to children and adolescents and rural education; promoting gender equality and combating violence; promoting access to housing; encouraging historically involved countries to recognize the trafficking of enslaved people as a crime against humanity; and increasing participation of people of African descent, especially women and LGBTQIAPN+ people, in international and national forums of discussion and spheres of power.
10. Strengthen international cooperation in projects dedicated to the links between the African continent and the Diaspora, including through: facilitated mobility and support for students, teachers, and researchers; strengthened institutions and educational programs that promote the mobility of African and African diaspora students; creation of a Federal Africa-Brazil University in Bahia, with a focus on expanding cooperation with other African and African diasporic countries; exchanges between traditional Afro-descendant communities to share knowledge, including intergenerational exchanges, taking into account the characteristics of each people.
11. Manage and defend the interests of the African Diaspora by establishing a multilateral institution headquartered in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
12. Promote knowledge management, with a focus on the Black communities of the African Diaspora, by encouraging, training, and recognizing racial equality managers; conducting censuses of the African Diaspora to learn about and understand how many and who the Afro-descendants are in each country and worldwide, and how they move between Africa and other regions of the world; and promoting digital inclusion, especially among the youth.
13. Promote the full implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, through a holistic approach to reparation in its political, economic, financial, and social dimensions, including the recognition of slavery and transatlantic trafficking as crimes against humanity. Consider reparations as a means to combat institutional racism, for the full integration of Africans into African diasporic societies and for the redistribution of power. These goals should be achieved through:

       a) National and international institutions dedicated to this topic, and specific funds from countries that have promoted colonization and slaveholding           institutions to promote the economic, social, and cultural development of African and Afro-descendant populations, both in Africa and in the countries         of the African Diaspora;

       b) Broad social participation that recognizes local and community needs;

       c) The dissemination of statistical tools that recognize the existence of African populations and prevent their sense of invisibility;

       d) The creation of international mechanisms, such as the Reparations Commission at the Human Rights Council and an International Reparations             Tribunal, and the conclusion of the negotiations on the United Nations International Declaration on the Rights of People of African Descent;

       e) International cooperation on reparations policies, with the creation of an electronic portal to collect information on this topic in several languages;           and

       f) The opposition of coercive measures and sanctions that impede the advancement of the social rights of Afro- diasporic populations.