Francia Márquez Mina is a renowned land defender and the first Afro-Colombian to be elected Vice President of Colombia.
In this Special Issue of The Internationalist, we publish the very first translation of Márquez’s speech at the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, in which the Vice-President calls for reparations, recognition and protection of ancestral collective land rights.
Márquez Mina is best known for her activism in defence of the rights of Afro-Colombian communities and the natural worlds they inhabit. In 2014, she led a nation-wide campaign to stop the ecologically disastrous industry of illegal mining in her home territory.
For her work, Márquez Mina has received numerous national and international awards and recognition, including the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018, considered one of the most prestigious environmental awards in the world.
It is important to recognise the importance of the fact that for the very first time, this Forum on People of African Descent is being made permanent in the United Nations. It has been arduous work, ongoing work done by many activist women and men from African descent who have been lobbying in the United Nations so that it shoulders the responsibility to put the debates, actions, and proposals on the table so that member states can undertake real and concrete actions to begin restoring the dignity which has been stolen from peoples of African descent.
Some years ago, I was here as an activist for human rights. Now, I am speak to you hear as the Vice-President of the Republic of Colombia.
Our government is committed to progressing with actions to support racial justice and we urge all member states of the United Nations to take on this same commitment. It is not enough to satisfy ourselves with forums or recommendations. We need structural changes and we need them now. Structural changes that see an end to conditions of colonisation, conditions comparable to slavery, conditions of structural violence endured by the peoples of African descent and Africans themselves which do not permit them to live with dignity.
The first necessary commitment that I want to propose before you here today is to establish actions of historic reparation. For many years, this has been an issue which has been dodged and avoided by the United Nations and the member states. It is vital that if we want to advance concretely, that we commit to specific actions of historic reparation. Actions to contribute to transforming the colonial systems which have impeded justice, to begin to transform the colonial systems in terms of economic and social development for populations of African descent, and to guaranteeing meaningful, genuine political participation in the decision-making process with respect to our own lives and the lives of our children. Real actions to combat the climate crisis, which today is disproportionately affecting those of African descendent and African populations the world over. We must understand that this economic system began with colonisation, with slavery, with the subjugation of human beings, men and women. And that is this same system that is currently collapsing life in our Great Home, the womb of Mother Earth.
It is not possible to speak of climate change without taking on racial and gender justice. Colombia is one of the few countries which has progressed with the recognition of collective land rights for peoples of African descent. As our ancestors say in their wisdom, “our rights to the land have given us freedom.” Now we need all countries to also take on the commitment of recognising and protecting ancestral collective land rights for populations of African descent. These are pillars which will contribute to the independence, autonomy and self-determination of people of African descent all over the world.
It is not enough to satisfy ourselves with forums or recommendations. We need structural changes and we need them now. Structural changes that see an end to conditions of colonisation, conditions comparable to slavery, conditions of structural violence endured by the peoples of African descent and Africans themselves which do not permit them to live with dignity.
Finally, I want to say that we cannot simply continue with the rhetoric of denouncing and announcing without member states or without the UN actually shouldering the commitments — more than just making recommendations — to emphasise the needs of countries that have been compromised by colonisation and slavery.
We have come to the United Nations to propose the forgiveness of foreign debt and as an avenue for historic reparations for peoples of African descent. Our countries continue to pay foreign debts to colonising countries, countries that based their development on the profits of slavery. This has not allowed us to live with dignity. A significant portion of our nations’ resources go to foreign debt repayment and as a result, people of African descent continue to be the most excluded and marginalised.
To move forward with genuine equality and equity means genuine commitments, commitments that go beyond simple meetings in international forums. We must say that although we recognise the establishment of the International Decade for People of African Descent, we have not seen the implementation of concrete changes that positively impact people in their daily lives. We hope that this Permanent Forum will allow us to establish structural changes to materially improve the lives of people of African descent the world over, to reconnect Africa with its diaspora, and allow us all to reconcile ourselves as one humanity.
First published in The Internationalist newsletter