The NAACP is dedicated to closing the gap of disparities faced by people of color across the globe by promoting fair and equitable human rights and economic justice.
The NAACP cannot adequately represent African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities if it only has a domestic agenda and does consider the global impact of our domestic concerns. The NAACP must use its domestic influence to help inform African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities of the affect of international affairs on their social and economic livelihood.
African Americans, with few exceptions, fare the worst in terms of access to healthcare and housing, numbers living in poverty, etc. No matter where they reside in the world, people of African descent are plagued with similar conditions within the global community. Africa, with a population of more than 840 million, is the giant among the impoverished regions that the United Nations Millennium Declaration of 2000 identified as critically in need of aid. United Nations progress reports of 2005 show that Africa is furthest behind in the quest to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.
• 400,000 Dafurians have been killed since 2003
• 2 million Dafurians lack shelter, food, and health care
The NAACP, through its new Department of International Affairs, will increase the capacity of the NAACP and partner institutions in civil society to address issues such as global health, human rights, and trade and sustainable development.
HUMAN RIGHTS
The NAACP will focus on issues, including racial discrimination that affect people of African Descent within the Diaspora, including Europe and Latin America. The NAACP will use its domestic capacity and increased international capacity to advocate for human rights through international organs and domestically through Congress and the Executive Branch.
TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The NAACP will increase the awareness and understanding of the economic aspects of sustainable growth and development in the International Arena, specifically in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, where it is critical to their ability to participate as a viable trading partner in the global marketplace. The NAACP will help forge the role of African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities in the private sector in Africa's economic development.
The NAACP will also promote development that is sustainable, that last and benefits the people who are the most disenfranchised and suffer from extreme poverty.
GLOBAL HEALTH CARE
The NAACP'S primary goal will be to build a diverse coalition of stakeholders and decision-makers in order to reach a consensus strategy to address the myriad of challenges of healthcare delivery on the African continent. In addition to the ongoing healthcare crisis and its effect on foreign policy decision-making, the NAACP will work to keep its membership informed on global public health emergency "outbreak" issues.
Campaign to end the genocide in Darfur
The Government of Sudan has engaged in an orchestrated campaign of genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and has severely restricted humanitarian and human rights workers' access to Darfur in an attempt to inflict further harm on the Fur, Masaalit, and Zaghawa people of Darfur and to prevent the collection of evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity. There have been over 300,000 murders of innocent Sudanese civilians by the Janjaweed militia. An estimated 1.8 million civilians have been displaced. (link to more info- Sudan piece)
Aid and Democracy Building
Sierra Leone and Liberia
In November 2005, the entire world saw a small country in West Africa that had been scarred and nearly destroyed come to life, when an overwhelmingly illiterate people chose to elect a Harvard-educated 67-year-old woman as the president of Liberia. This free, fair, transparent election was an affirmation of Liberia's dream of peace -- a dream envisioned when Liberia became a nation in 1847. Given America's ties to this country, settled by freed African Americans in 1822, it is incumbent on the United States to help make that dream a reality for Liberia.
Sierra Leone was the first country that African Americans returned to after supporting the British in the Revolutionary War. This history began as a result of a major component of the transatlantic Slave Trade, the transportation of Africans from Sierra Leone to South Carolina and Georgia because of the Africans' expertise in that region in rice and cotton.
Both of these countries- side-by-side- are where African Americans first returned as freed slaves. Both of these countries have similar development needs. The NAACP is currently focused on building a constituency to address the following issues:
NAACP Diaspora Project
The NAACP is continuing the historic role of W.E.B. Dubois and is actively engaged in outreach to Africans in the Diaspora including Afro-Latinos, the Caribbean community and people of African descent in Europe (i.e. France). The NAACP has been making democracy real in the United States since 1909. The legal battles and the advocacy gains of the NAACP are often researched by communities outside of the United States who suffer from the same or similar problems. The NAACP believes that connecting with these communities and sharing mutual struggles will strengthen our reach here in the United States and abroad.
The NAACP and the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
If you are interested in foreign policy, or are interested in learning more about the NAACP Department of International Affairs, please contact the NAACP at 202-463-2940.
Q: What is the NAACP’s NGO affiliation with the United Nations?
A: An NGO is any non-governmental organization, which is permitted to participate in United Nations related activities. These organizations, with UN shared principles, are able to work directly with the United Nationa after completing a lengthy screening process. There are only 2,234 non-governmental organizations with formal consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and less than 1,600 associated with the Department of Public Information (DPI). The NAACP is associated with both the ECOSOC and the DPI of the United Nations.
Q: What is the African Union?
A: As states on the African Union website, The African Union is the organized body that represents the interest of 53 Member states and whose mission is to accelerate the process of integration in the continent to enable African Member States to play their rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation. More. . . (link) the AU document
Q: What is CARICOM?
A: CARICOM literally stands for the Caribbean Community. More info
Q: Which Country has the largest population of African Descendents outside of any country on the African Continent?
A: If you thought the United States, you are in the majority, but the correct answer is Brazil. Brazil has the largest population of African descendants living outside of Africa with numbers estimated at 80 million. That is twice the number African Americans (40 million) who reside in the United States.
Q: What is meant by African Diaspora?
A: The African Diaspora represents African descendants wherever they are in the world. Most left Africa as a result of the slave trade. However, in recent years Africans have populated the world in search of education, economic opportunities, and employment, asylum, and/or the just desire to live in a different place.
Hilary Shelton, Director of International Affairs
Tasha Coleman, Consultant
NAACP Department of International Affairs
1156 15th Street, NW Suite 915
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202-463-2940
Fax: 202-463-2953
NAACP National Headquarters
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore MD 21215
Toll Free:
(877) NAACP-98
Local:
(410) 580-5777
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