Thank you, Madam President.

Ongoing violations of the rights of People of African Descent the world over, illustrate the real distance we have yet to travel, if we are to achieve full equality and non-discrimination for all.

Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the vulnerability and unequal outcomes that exist for People of African Descent and other minority groups, due to systemic racism.

As a nation of majority People of African Descent, The Bahamas condemns all forms of racism and believes that equality is a human right.

Indeed, the Constitution of The Bahamas provides that no person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner on the basis of race, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Bahamas is also a State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

The legacy of historical injustices, committed against People of African Descent, permeates our contemporary realities, including through the higher rates of chronic disease, disproportionate burdens of climate change, inequalities in the international economic and trading system as well as the violence and discrimination to which people of African Descent continue to succumb. 


Madam President,

Reckoning with the past will be the only way to meet the needs of the present.

Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, the international community has committed to “leaving no one behind”.

Still, recent events and the call of global civil society, underscore that many feel their voices are unheard.

We therefore reaffirm our commitments to eradicating racism, protecting the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of all, including by ensuring adequate civil society space, protecting the right to peaceful assembly and association and addressing violence and discrimination on the basis of race, wherever it occurs.

We therefore welcome the adoption of resolution L.50 entitled “The promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers”, by consensus.

I thank you.