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International Merit Award Emilio Castelar. PARDON, RECONCILIATION AND DIALOGUE WITHOUT BORDERS.
Madrid Declaration Black Community
Preamble
In Madrid, Spain, December 5th, 2008 we, the undersigned, participants of the Emilio Castelar Award to Merit DISPERSOS E INÉDITOS event, in representation of the organized civil society of the black community and African descendants from the Americas and the Caribbean, and of kindred organizations , in the framework of the Bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery and Slave Trade, the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the Latin American Year of Non-Discrimination and Youth, the Tenth Year of Black Communities, the Millennium Objectives 2015, the Follow-up Report of the Durban Plan in Cincha/Perú ONU/CES 27 February 2006, Act 62/2003 on Equal Treatment- Spain, in commemoration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution, Sixtieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Tercentenary of the incorporation of Equatorial Guinea to the Crown of Castile, and the Year of Planet Earth.
Considering our shared commitment and interest in using effectively the great progress and development achieved by humankind in the fields of human, civil and social rights, participative and representative democracy, citizenship, equity, equal rights and justice, social peace, tolerance for the development of multicultural diversity and multiethnic, cultural and educational diversity, in the protection and defence of natural resources and the environment.
In view of our common concern about the vulnerability, inequity and social injustice the black community and African descendants are subjected to, as reflected in the high rates of marginality, poverty, illness, hunger, exclusion, armed conflicts and generalized violation of their human, civil and social rights and the significant repercussion this has on structural and institutional racism.
We here present the following Madrid Declaration of the Black Community, urging democratic governments to implement affirmative actions to ensure in an effective manner the inclusion of the black community in all spheres of activity, cultural, social, economic and political.
We hereby
UNDERLINE the significant historical contribution of the Black community to the political, cultural, economic, social, and religious development and to World Peace, which makes it deserve other forms of relations with the states and official and private bodies, to guarantee the implementation of universal citizenship, as an expression of participative and representative democracy and of social corporate responsibility.
HIGHLIGHT the success of the 1st INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS SYMPOSIUM 2008: Abolition of Slavery and Slave Trade, Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue, a preamble encouraging Spain to become an example for other nations throughout the world in the dignification of the black community, along with other counties such as the United states, United Kingdom, France, and the Vatican.
STRESS the success of the event Dispersed and Unknown which was granted the Award to the Merit Emilio Castelar in 2008.
HIGHLIGHT the meeting of Black Community representatives with representatives of the two Chambers of the Spanish Parliament.
EMPHASIZE the clear will of the organized black civil community and that of Spanish sympathizers to establish the BROWN RIBBON as symbol to the memory of the victims of the holocaust and of the triangular trade of slavery, between Europe, Africa and America.
REQUEST that the goodwill shown by the EUROPEAN UNION and SPAIN vis-à-vis the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the Caribbean be EXTENDED TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICIES to meet the aspirations of slave descendants in the form of specific international cooperation schemes geared at their access to a comprehensive social development, the social and economic fund and to the different civil bodies organised around international cooperation.
REQUEST that the aspiration of the Black Community, its Diaspora and descendents be placed on equal footing and be fully recognized in Spain as an ethnic minority and as a socially excluded group (like Sephardic Jews, Saharawi, Gypsies, Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants, Homosexuals), on the grounds of long-established settlement, historical links and equal treatment.
Statement
1. Human rights cannot be legitimated without taking into account the victims of cruelty be it holocaust, racism, xenophobia, slavery, genocide and crimes against humanity which do not prescribe or cannot be granted amnesty, and all connected forms of surreptitious, legitimate, institutional exclusion.
2. We urge the States to recognize and include without any restrictions the Black community among ethnic minorities, with priority treatment by the state.
3. We urge the Spanish Administration to publicly acknowledge slavery, to proclaim forgiveness for the black holocaust and to draft proposals to foster the full recognition of the black community in Spain.
4. We demand that the States open up their institutions to encourage dialogue and reconciliation and to foster effective inclusion, visibility and empowerment of the black community in all functional areas of the state and of human development.
5. We ask for the criminalization of racist acts leading to segregation and exclusion, detrimental to the civil and social rights and freedoms of the Black community in Spain.
6. We request the tipification of the Black community and that of other ethnic minorities in the Spanish Constitution to guarantee their democratic representation and participation as well as their political participation, through a special circunscripción (constituency), and full representation in the legislative, judicial and executive powers of the Spanish State.
7. We request the tipification of the Black community and other ethnic minorities to be acknowledged in the European Constitution.
8. We urge the governments to guarantee compliance of the regulations and rules of international bodies such as Durban 2001, the Human Rights Commission, UN/ECOSOC 2006, OAS, SECIB, FRA, UNHCR, CERD/SP/69, ODM, Coalition of American, Caribbean, African and European Cities Against Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance.
Signatory countries and representatives
PERU: CARLOS JARA CUEVAS
ANGOLA: JEAN BERNABE MOUSAJE
BRAZIL: JOSE ROBERTO GUEDES OLIVEIRA
SENEGAL: ARISTIDE KATARE
CUBA: GUILLERMO PONCE LEON
COLOMBIA: OLMEDO POVEDA BUITRAGO
COLOMBIA: JENNY DE LA TORRE CORDOBA
COLOMBIA: LUIS ALBERTO ALARCON VALENCIA
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: ABUY NFUBEA
ISRAEL: BEN YEHUDA KHAZRIEL
SPAIN: JOSE RAUL VAQUERO PULIDO
SPAIN: RAQUEL PEREIRA
Organizations
Instituto Brasilero de fluencia
Centro Europeo Ibero andino de España
Asociacion Iberoamericana de Integracion de España
Asociacion Africa Viva
Asociacion Mboloni
Federacion de Asociaciones Cubanas e Iberoamericanas Siglo XXI – FEDACI
Federacion de Asociaciones de Afro descendientes de Ibero America en España – FEDAFRO
Asociacion Progreso Da Nacao Angolenha
Documentation Sciences Foundation
Fundacion Vida – Grupo Ecologico Verde
Federacion Panafricanista de España
Plataforma Solidaridad
In attendance
USA: Mr. STEVE COHEN. Member of Congress
NETHERLANDS: Ms. BERRYL BIECKMAN. Director Sixth Nepad Region – African Union
SPAIN: Mr. ADOLFO GONZALES. Member of Parliament
SPAIN: Mr. MARCO GARCIA MONTES. International Jurists Commission
SPAIN: REPRESENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND PARLAMENT IN SPAIN
EUROPEAN UNION: Ms .MARÍA ROSA GARCIA G. General Secretary of Organised Civil Society and Corporate Social Responsibility
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