African diaspora decade of return 2020-2030

The Year of Return declared in September 2018 in Washington DC by the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, with reference to the 400-year remembrance of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the enslavement of African people does not stand by itself nor is it a vacuum. The Year of Return must be considered as an event in the series of various instruments that have been established in the framework of declarations and resolutions on the People of African descent in the past twenty years.

• The several Resolutions and Declarations on Reparatory Justice commencing from the Abuja Proclamation of the First Pan-African Conference for Reparations for Chattel Slavery, Colonisation & Neocolonisation 1993.
• The Durban Declaration and the Programme of Action 2001.
• The installation of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent 2002.
• The UN Durban Review 2009.
• The UN High level Panel on the 10th year commemoration of the DDPA.
• The UN International Year for People of African Descent 2011.
• The UN International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024.
• The European Parliament Resolution on the Fundamental Rights of People of African Descent 2019.
• This year the CSW63 adopted a paragraph in the consolidated outcome in the sphere of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent.
• Regional Conferences on the UN International Decade for People of African Descent in cooperation with the African Union and the CIDO (Citizens and Diaspora Organizations Directorate).

The IDEA for an African Diaspora Decade of Return came from the AU African Diaspora 6th Region Community Council Europe in cooperation with the Global African Diaspora Union (EU) soon after the launching of the Ghana Year of Return. The Year was seen as an excellent opportunity and strategy for the fast(er) and effective implementation of the AU Diaspora 6th Region Declaration. The TONE was set during the 63rd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) that took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 11 – 22 March 2019. At the parallel session on March 16th 2019 co-convened and sponsored by the The DRAMMEH INSTITUTE with BringBackOurGirls NYC, Murtala Muhammad Foundation, Red de Mujeres Afrolatino americanas, Afrocaribeñas y de la Diáspora, Tiye International, and European Women’s Movement ‘Sophiedela’ the IDEA of the African Diaspora Decade of Return was discussed and adopted. This was also the Day that the Launching of the Global African Women’s Day took place. On March 20th at the parallel session organized by ECOWAS

WOMEN and The GLOBAL AFRICAN SHEROES UNION in partnership with other African Women’s Movements the IDEA of the Decade of Return was approved. Read further in the agreed conclusion. Read more.

The Decade of Return was officially adopted during the African Diaspora RootsSynergy Roundtable discussion which took place on November 5th, 2019 in Accra/Ghana with support of the Sonant Court Hotel. The Context of the Roundtable activity was the “Ghana Year of Return” and initiated by the Global Pan-Africanists and Activist.
The ACCRA DECLARATION is the result of the statements, debate and the decision-making process during the RootsSynergy Roundtable.

In the ACCRA DECLARATION we have given insight into what has been discussed, concluded and agreed upon as well the issues of concern that ask for immediate attention and action by the African Union Commission; The African Union Head of States; The United Nations Member States; Head of Governments and other Stakeholders. We Call on the United Nations Member States for the full implementation of The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and The UN International Decade for People of African Descent and Programme of Activities.

We have given insight into the substances for the legitimization respectively adoption of the African Diaspora Decade of Return by the African Union Commission.

We recommend that the Programme of Activities for the implementation of the Decade of Return must be developed in close cooperation with an appointed “Technical Working Commission Decade of Return” with a consultative voice for the Ghana Presidency Commission Year of Return, because of the learning and experience aspects. We request that a Secretariat for the implementation of the Decade of Return inclusive Knowledgeable and well-informed Diaspora Cadres should be placed under the Diaspora Department of the AU Commission. This Secretariat would have the mandate and responsibility to drive the entire process of the Decade of Return: 2020-2030.

With the Decade of Return we give the Ghana Year of Return a broader face, a wider perspective. It is an irreversible process. It provides a Global Instrument not only for the Africans abroad but for the liberty & reunification of all African people.

Spiritual Journey
The Return to Ghana or anywhere on the continent can also be seen as a spiritual journey that is an autodidactic step towards self-repair. We individually, and our hosts, must take into account the matter of spiritual reparations that inform our renewed presence on the African
continent. With a Decade of Return we Africans in the Diaspora make ourselves responsible for the effectuation of the Sixth Region Initiative. But we can never succeed without the so called African Union Support Systems. These must be put in place to facilitate our Return as a metaphysical phenomena/journey, as well as, a socio-political and economic reality. That means that there must also be traditional African spaces of worship as well as, mosques, churches, temples and their respective staff must be a part of the process of facilitating our Return to the continent. They are an integral part of the means by which People of African Descent are informed of the DDPA and its importance to us as formerly enslaved and ‘formerly’ colonized peoples.