SAINT LUCIA will next week launch activities for the observance of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent as part of a series of events that will also observe Emancipation and Reparations in the context of slavery and native genocide.
The events, organized by the National Reparations Committee (NRC) in association with the UWI Open Campus and the Office of the Prime Minister, are being held to recognize the valuable contributions made by people of African origin, of which approximately 200 million live in the Americas.
In proclaiming the decade (2015 to 2024), the international community recognizes that people of African descent represent a distinct group whose human rights must be promoted and protected.
One of the best known proponents of the Pan-Africanist movement was Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur and orator born on August 17. 1887.
A Garvey Emancipation and Reparations colloquy will be held in his honour coinciding with the 129th anniversary of his birth. It will also include the launching of a joint NRC-Open Campus Reparations Lecture Series and the passing of the CARICOM Reparations Baton.
Nkrumah Lucien, Member of the National Reparations Committee said the launching of the events on Marcus Garvey’s birthday is significant.
“We felt that the birthday of Marcus Garvey, given his commitment to addressing issues pertaining to African people and also the insights that he had to provide, was a good occasion for us to launch the two events.”
The event will be held next Wednesday, August17, at the UWI Open Campus, Morne Fortune.
The event will be broadcast live on the National Television Network (NTN) and streamed to the rest of the region and the world.