THE African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) is calling on the Government to implement the programme of action of the United Nations’ Decade of People of African Descent, which the body says can best be achieved by the establishment of a secretariat.

A release from ACDA has said the secretariat would create the structure conductive to creating the plan of action. That release, which pertains to African Holocaust Day/MAAFA on October 12, noted that the commemorative even would this year be hosted on October 12 under the theme ‘Seeking Preparatory Justice for the African Holocaust through Development’.

According to ADCA, on October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus ventured into this part of the world and started what it described as “the unbridled discrimination of indigenous peoples and cultures throughout the world”, in that Columbus’s “discovery” ushered in chattel slavery.

ACDA says that slavery annihilated Africa, African cultures, African family structures, African institutions, African commerce, African growth, African history, African Pride and African economic development. “The global stench of racial discrimination was born and nurtured during this infamous period of abhorrent barbarism against African and indigenous peoples everywhere”, the body said.

ACDA notes that such conditions still exist, and have been recognised by the United Nations in its Declaration 68/237. ACDA said the declaration states: “People of African descent were victims of slavery, the slave trade, and colonialism, and continue to be victims of their consequences”.

ACDA notes that the UN declaration states: “They (African people) constitute the poorest and most marginalized groups”, and
“Recognizing that poverty is both a cause and a consequence of discrimination, States (Governments) should, as appropriate, adopt or strengthen national programmes for eradicating poverty and reducing social exclusion that take account of the specific needs and experiences of people of African descent,”

Noting that the declaration also recognises that the effects of the MAAFA are still evident, ACDA has called on the APNU+AFC Government to move with haste to implement the programme of action of the UN’s Decade of People of African Descent.

The body is inviting the public to join with its members at the Seawall Bandstand on Wednesday, October 12th, 2016 at 11am as the group honours and remembers “with great respect, pain and grief” the Africans who died during the Middle Passage, and the millions more who suffered the meanest of fates under slavery. High tide is at 1:12 pm, ACDA said, and floral tributes are encouraged.