REPRESENTATIVES of a number of organisations looking into the interest of people of African descent in Guyana gathered yesterday at the Parade Ground in Middle Street, Georgetown to launch a programme of activities to commemorate the “Decade of People of African Descent.”

The decade, commencing on January 1, 2015 and ending on December 31, 2024, was launched by the United Nations (UN) on December 10, 2014 following a resolution adopted on December 23, 2013.

Yesterday’s activity saw a number of organisations, including the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), the Pan-African Organisation, the Guyana United Apostolic Mystical Council, Ghana Day Organization, and the Nya Binghi, coming together to work on a programme of activities for the next ten years.

Addressing the gathering, Brigadier (retd) David Granger admonished the organisations to stick to the ideals in the UN declaration. He posited that there is no need for the UN decade as declared, but the groups need to encourage their members to look to themselves for their salvation.

He pointed to the various communities he had visited and noted the misplaced priorities displayed by the people whom he had encountered.

Urging the groups to adopt an “every child in school” policy to develop their circumstances, he encouraged them to stop educating their children for salaried employment, but to engage in entrepreneurship as a form of job creation.

He pointed to the number of local organisations representing people of African descent, and told them that for all Guyanese to enjoy the bounty Guyana has to offer, they need to unite and work together with all Guyanese.

The UN resolution recognises that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and have the potential to contribute constructively to the development and wellbeing of the societies in which they live”, and that “any doctrine of racial superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and must be rejected; together with theories that attempt to determine the existence of separate human races.”

The UN resolution also acknowledges the efforts and initiatives undertaken by states to prohibit discrimination and segregation and to engender the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural, as well as civil and political rights.

The resolution emphasises that, despite efforts in this regard, millions of human beings continue to be victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances, including their contemporary manifestations, some of which take violent forms.

The programme of activities for the decade is expected to be shortly finalized and published.