International Day for People of African Descent Observed on 31 August 2026

2 September 2026National

The United Nations observed the International Day for People of African Descent on 31 August 2026, the sixth edition, under the 2026 theme "Expanding the Human Rights of People of African Descent." The day was created by UNGA Resolution A/RES/75/170 adopted on 16 December 2020, an initiative championed by Costa Rica, and was first observed on 31 August 2021. It sits within the UN's wider anti-racial-discrimination architecture, including the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, and reinforces the 2030 Agenda's pledge to leave no one behind - a theme running through the UN's cluster of August human-rights observances.

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The UN General Assembly declared 2015-2024 the International Decade for People of African Descent under the theme recognition, justice and development | The Permanent Forum on People of African Descent was established by the UNGA in 2021 as an advisory body to the Human Rights Council | The United Nations was founded on 24 October 1945 and is headquartered at New York, USA

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