Oral Statement to the 59th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

Oral Statement to the 59th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

17 March to 25 April, 2003

Agenda Item 15

Speaker: Mr. Silis Muhammad

Greetings Mr. Chairman. The Afrodescendant people, throughout the Slavery Diaspora, are, to this date, struggling for UN recognition of our inherent human rights.

We Afrodescendants have experienced total destruction of our essence: our original identity, language and religion. The U.S. Secretary of State is a classic example of how weapons of mass destruction are being used against us. We now know, weapons of mass destruction can destroy the person physically, or destroy the person mentally. He, to this day, is denied by the country he serves, the use of his own language, culture and religion. These rights, as articulated in Article 27 of the ICCPR, are denied us generation after generation, and this denial is tantamount to weapons of mass destruction of the mind.

Other people of African descent whose ancestors were not subject to slavery, still have their original identity. We do not.

We believe that UN recognition of our inherent human rights will place us on a path of recompense: if ever we are to be equal to our slave masters’ children. We ask you to place our issue on the agenda of the Sub-Commission and in the hands of the Working Group on Minorities.