Dear Mr Editor,
The Fourth session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent will be held during 14th – 17th April, 2025 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) proposes to send a delegation. African Cultural Groups in Guyana are objecting to the ERC’s proposed Delegation in which the Indigenous People Representative to the ERC, Mr Ashton Simon is identified as the ERC’s torch bearer.
It must be noted that in 2024, the ERC’s Delegation to the Third session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent was led by an Indo-Guyanese, Mr. Neaz Subhan. Mr Subhan is the Indian Representative on the ERC. The choice of representative in 2024 raised many questions that this year’s choice has also elicited.
Mr Editor, we would like to point out that at the 23rd Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2024, the ERC sent a delegation of six (6) Indigenous Guyanese. No individual of African, East Indian, Portuguese, Chinese etc. formed part of that delegation. In other words, at that Session, the ERC’s Delegation consisted only of Indigenous Guyanese. The ERC’s choice of representatives to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues versus the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent begs the following questions:
ꞏ Are the Africans who were born in Guyana children of a lesser God? ꞏ Why must sitting (ERC) representatives of other ethnic communities lead a delegation to such an important discourse on African Peoples?
ꞏ When considering the aims and objectives of the first and now the second decade of People of African Descent, why must our story of progress or non-progress be filtered through individuals of differing ethnicities?
ꞏ Why is the ERC, the constitutional body tasked with promoting ‘the elimination of all forms of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity’ and providing ‘for equality of opportunity between persons of different ethnic groups,’ openly discriminating against African Guyanese?
Mr Editor, this is completely unacceptable. We insist that this insidious practice must cease. We demand that African Guyanese be given the opportunity to report on our issues, bargain and plan for our community, celebrate our victories and mourn our losses” in this and all future delegations representing the ERC at the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
Yours Truly
Elton McRae
Representative – African Cultural and Development Association
Mark Britton
Representative – House of Nyabingh
Esther Gittens
Representative – Ambessa Foundation