Experts from the Task Force on People of African Descent presented a report to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday in which they criticized the use of images of children of African descent in campaigns fundraising, reports the UN news site.
According to the document, images of “skinny, hungry and sick” African children are frequently used in “undignified circumstances, for marketing and fundraising purposes” in favor of international NGOs.
“Children of African descent are not synonymous with poverty”, insisted the Chair of the Task Force, Catherine Namakula, adding that “due to racial discrimination, racial stereotyping, systemic racial discrimination and xenophobia, children of African descent are not considered children at all”.
Rather, the lives of children of African descent are an opportunity for humanity to decisively end centuries of marginalization of generations of one of the most oppressed groups of people in the world, UN experts point out. They invite the United Nations and other stakeholders to cease their practices against these children.
It is time, according to Namakula, to “dismantle discriminatory structures and create political space for dialogue on reparations at the international, regional, national and local levels. Only truth, accountability and justice can eliminate racial discrimination”.
The Chair of the Working Group also stated that “to leave no child behind, the issues of children of African descent must be brought from the margins to the mainstream in education, health, social services and justice for children. Humanity owes the best it has to give to every child without exception”.
By OMA Newsletter N° 933 of 10/11/2022
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
