African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council Announces Official Launch and Constitution

In May 0f 2022, Pan African activists from across the African Continent and around the Diaspora met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the Roots-Synergy Roundtable.  There, work began on a unified strategy to firmly establish, after over 17 years of false starts, a roadmap for the African Diaspora to achieve recognition in the African Union as its Sixth Region, and for activists from around the world to launch a new era of cooperation to move the Pan African World forward.  Several online meetings of Pan African activists from Central America, South America, North America, Europe, Africa, Australia and the Middle East followed the Addis Ababa meeting and set the stage for the next major in-person conference to further this objective.

This work continued when these activists reconvened in Maputo, Mozambique in July of 2023.  At this time, the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region High Council was launched.  A Constitution was written, ratified and released to the public, and is available to read below.

ADOPTED&APROVED_ConstitutionAUADS 6thregionHighCouncil. docx

Credit must go to Dr. Barryl A. Biekman, founder of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators Working Group-Europe (AUADSFWG) for her tireless work in leading this endeavor.  Dr. Biekman has been a regular presence on the international scene for over 25 years, having participated in the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2001 and working consistently with the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) since its 2006 founding to establish representation for the African Diaspora in the African Union, pursuant to the AU’s African Diaspora Initiative which it had proclaimed in 2003.  She has attended meetings, conferences and public sessions at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, as well as the United Nations Headquarters in New York City and Geneve, Switzerland.  She has been a tireless advocate for the African Diaspora on the ground in The Netherlands where she currently lives, promoting the “Sixth Region” African Diaspora and mobilizing against such racist traditions as “Svarte Piet”, or “Black Pete”, a Christmas holiday tradition in many sectors of Dutch life which reinforces anti-Black stereotypes.