Justin Hansford's Remarks at the Opening of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD)

JUSTIN HANSFORD’S OPENING REMARKS TO PFPAD2

excerpt:

“Why can’t those grassroots citizens begin to determine their own terms for what reparations should look like? . . . . 

So whenever reparations is framed not as justice, not as repair. . .  but as charity, as a gift, the terms will always be self serving. It wouldn’t make sense for a bank robber to determine how much of the heist he will return or a selective panel of experts to dole out the stolen money according to its own vision of what's fair. 

So this is perhaps the most appropriate legal question to ponder - crimes against humanity, governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court adopted in 1988 is one perhaps interesting legal concept that we could apply to what happened to our people. Genocide, determined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the General Assembly in 1948 shortly after the Holocaust is another interesting legal claim that could be brought. But so far we have left it to the scholars of the past, the lawyers of the past, the white scholars, white lawyers, to determine the bounds of our legal imagination, to determine the narrow structures that we will use to determine what justice looks like for our own people. 

So I come to you today with a novel proposal, that we begin to think our own thoughts, propose our own vision of justice, and implement that justice, as part of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. 

So I also propose today that we create a new Bar Association, including lawyers and non-lawyers, to discuss what it means to be repaired in 2023 for crimes that have been done to us and continue to be done to us for over 500 years. . . . 

So for your consideration, Madam Chair, I propose that today we create a new community of legal thinkers that is not limited to lawyers, but includes anyone who is passionate about justice. And we come together and demand that many of the states in this room that have benefitted from the legacy of our oppression start the process of apology and reparation, but not on their terms, but on our terms. 

Thank you.”

SIPHIWE BALEKA’S COMMENTARY

The first example of Justin Hansford’s charge to “think our own thoughts, propose our own vision of justice, and implement that justice, as part of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent” is the  MANDATE FROM THE AFRO DESCENDANT PEOPLE ISSUED TO THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ON THEIR STATUS AS PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER THE GENEVA CONVENTION. This is yet another interesting legal claim, like the ICC and Genocide examples that Justin Hansford mentioned, that is perhaps the most promising at this moment.

Many of the opening statements at the 2nd Session urged PFPAD and the United Nations system to “concrete action.”

Fortunately, that can be achieved by PFPAD President Epsy Cambell Barr signing the

Request for an ICJ Advisory Opinion.

We are thankful that Justin Hansford is in full support of this effort.

Statement to the 2nd Session of PFPAD: Mandate to Request an Advisory Opinion from the ICJ

Attorney Maynard Henry, who serves as the 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐑𝐀 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 calls on the 2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to take "Concrete Actions" by urging PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Barr to sign the MANDATE FROM THE AFRO DESCENDANT PEOPLE ISSUED TO THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ON THEIR STATUS AS PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER THE GENEVA CONVENTION

8PAC1 Conversations: Curtis Murphy on the Fihankra Repatriation and CIA Sabotage

⁣⁣Curtis Murphy, Fihankra Coordinator and Special Assistant to the Chair (Odikrohene) for the Greater Accra Governing Council reveals explosive new allegations of CIA involvement in sabotaging the Repatriation movement. Curtis and Siphiwe also discuss some of the agenda for the upcoming 8th Pan African Congress Part 1 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

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HISTORICAL BLACK CONTENT CREATORS (HBCC) is the platform created by Michael Thompson to give the Global Afrikan Community of Black People everywhere its own youtube. Let’s be about Pan Africanism and exercise self determination and build and use our own social media and support our own, independent content creators!!!

CIA IN GHANA

THE CIA GUIDE TO DESTROYING ORGANISATIONS*

*In the 1970s, all cells and chapters of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) had to study and discuss this together with the DESTRUCTION OF BLACK CIVILIZATION by Chancellor Williams.*

One of our colleagues of the Washington, D.C. chapter, who was a lecturer at Howard University, exposed attempts by the CIA to recruit her. Kemba Maish paid dearly for her bravery but she and her son remained loyal to the PanAfrican revolutionary cause. Kemba always attended Work/Study classes with her young son, Nicholas.

It was revealed to me three years ago that there are over 100,000 CIA human assets in Ghana and mostly it is Ghanaian who volunteer information to curry favour. CIA and US military penetration in Ghana is now an open secret and such is the Dukadaya foreign policy of subservience to the US, its NATO allies and Israel: the very nations who combined their intelligence and security to undermine and eventually overthrow the Nkrumah regime. Such is the duplicitous and subversive character of the ruling Dukadaya Mafioso Cabals.”

The Unfinished Business of Malcolm X and Imari Obadele: Taking Our Claim to the International Court of Justice

“Wow! I don’t know about all of you all on this call, but I’m in tears. The level of scholarship, commitment, insistency, to produce this report, with all those details, weaving this tapestry of incredible observation and study is remarkable . . . is remarkable. . . . I am in awe. Nothing less . . . this brilliance we have just witnessed together . . . You have witnessed something phenomenal.” - Dr. Onaje Muid, NCOBRA Health Commission Co-Chair

“I came here to learn! And I have just been learning and smiling. . . . As someone who sat at the feet . . . of Imari Obadele, it’s just so nostalgic listening to Brother Siphiwe because it sounds like brother Imari reincarnated! . . . Give me marching orders! . . . All this is passed on to y’all’s generation.” -Nkechi Taifa, Executive Director, Reparation Education Project, Inc. and author of Reparations on Fire: How and Why It’s Spreading Across America

“Brother, that’s very powerful and dynamic information. . . . that we need to share with our people to make us more concsious of what our rights and possibilities are, even to help us imagine. I applaud you and salute you on carrying the work of our ancestors to a new level and educating us all.” - Akinyele Omowale Umoja, New Afrikan Independence Movement Strategist and author of the book, We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement

“We will do what is necessary if the international bodies do not do what is necessary.” - Maynard Henry, Esq. Member of NCOBRA International Affairs Committee and Plebiscite Committee Chair

Saturday, May 27, 2023 - The 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐖𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 sponsored by the NCOBRA Health Commission and the NCOBRA Education commission discussed the new opportunities in international forums to pursue reparations and advance Afro Descendant people’s struggle for justice and repair using the interrelated and interdependent arguments derived from genetic testing, transgenerational epigenetic, ethnocide and prisoner of war status under the Geneva Convention.

Siphiwe Baleka, a scholar activist and New Afrikan/AfroDescendant Diplomat, who is fast becoming recognized as the “peoples’ expert” on these issues, presented the first workshop entitled, The Unfinished Business of Malcolm X and Imari Obadele: Taking Our Claim to the International Court of Justice

Outline: 1. Malcolm X and the Unfinished Business at the World Court; 2. What is the ICJ?; 2. Why go to the ICJ?; 3.What is PFPAD?; 4. Why is PFPAD important?; 5. Our Prisoner of War claim under the Geneva Convention; 6. What if we get a favorable opinion? 7. What if we don’t get a favorable opinion?

Future workshops include,

Ethnocide: Genocide’s Twin Sister & Making Your Ethnocide Claim

Transgenerational Epigenetics and Siphiwe Baleka’s Case at the IACHR

Understanding the History and Requirements of a Plebiscite

WATCH THE FULL PRESENTATION

Siphiwe Baleka Statement to the 1st Session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descentn more
The African American Case for Independence at the International Court of Justicearn more
JUSTIN HANSFORD'S REMARKS AT THE OPENING OF THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT (PFPAD)
STATEMENT TO THE 2ND SESSION OF PFPAD: MANDATE TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE ICJ

ILLINOIS PASSES HR292 RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE DNA TESTING AND REPARATIONS FOR VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION TO ANCESTRAL HOMELANDS IN AFRICA - HIGHLIGHTS BALANTAS FROM AMERICA

Declares the State of Illinois should take the lead on issues of Pan-Africanism, citizenship in Africa, and reparatory justice, and the State should champion the Eighth Pan-African Congress Part 1 (8PAC1) and its agenda to develop a continental-wide diaspora citizenship plan, establish the African Diaspora as the 6th Region of the African Union (AU), and determine a permanent headquarters for the 6th Region. Calls upon the State to immediately, through its African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission (ADCRC), provide matrilineal and patrilineal DNA testing through African ancestry to determine the ancestral lineages and territories of origin of its Black residents so that they can seek citizenship in their ancestral homelands, if so desired. Calls upon the State to become the first to conduct a repatriation census in preparation for honoring President Abraham Lincoln's desire for voluntary repatriation with compensation and to make conducting the repatriation census its immediate priority.

Balanta Society Statement to the 32nd Session of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent Economic Empowerment of People of African Descent Geneva, Switzerland, May 1-5, 2023

COMPLETE FORMAL SATEMENT WITH DOCUMENTATION

For more information, click and read:

#AfricanEconomicliberation

Siphiwe Baleka to Present at International Congress entitled “OTHER READINGS ABOUT AMÍLCAR CABRAL” at the University of Lisbon, April 27 and 28th

The presentation by Brassa Mada aka Siphiwe Baleka (Founder, Balanta B'urassa History & Genealogy Society in America – BBHAGSIA) is entitled

Amilcar Cabral and the Return of Prisoners of War Enslaved in the Americas: Critical Importance of Balancing Ethnic Identity and National Consciousness During the Decade of Return Initiative in Guinea Bissau

Below is the schedule, the book of abstracts, and Siphiwe’s powerpoint presentation (Portuguese Translation after English)

APRESENTAÇÃO DE SIPHIWE BALEKA EM PORTUGUÊS

Scientific commission:

Mourad Aty (CEAUP – Center for African Studies at the University of Porto)
Catarina Casanova (CEAF /ISCSP – University of Lisbon; CIAS – UC)
Maria Nazaré de Ceita (Dean of Cooperation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of São Tomé and Príncipe ; Coordinator of the Department of Social and Human Sciences at FCT/USTP)
Iolanda Évora (ISCSP/University of Lisbon and CEsA/ISEG)
Raul Mendes Fernandes (Vice-Rector of Amílcar Cabral University and senior researcher at INEP)
Sónia Frias (CEAF/ISCSP ; CEsA/ISEG – University of Lisbon)
Bucar Indjai (National Institute of Studies and Research – INEP)
José Neves (Director of the Institute of Contemporary History – NOVA)
Zaída Pereira (Amílcar Cabral Center for Social Studies)
Maria da Luz Ramos (CEAF/ISCSP – University of Lisbon)
Inês Nascimento Rodrigues (Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra)
Silvia Roque (University of Évora and CES)
Ana Lúcia Sá (Higher Institute of Labor and Business Sciences – ISCTE- IUL)
Maciel Santos (CEAUP – Center for African Studies at the University of Porto)
Rui Jorge Semedo (CEAUP – Center for African Studies at the University of Porto)
Odair Barros Varela (University of Cape Verde)
Manuel Veiga (Amílcar Cabral Foundation)


Organizing committee:

Catarina Casanova (CEAF/ISCSP – University of Lisbon; CIAS – UC)
Carla Delgado (CEAUP)
Filipa Fernandes (CEAF/ISCSP – University of Lisbon)
Helena Furtado (CEAUP)
Isabel Lourenço (CEAUP)
Gonçalo Salvaterra (CRIA-NOVA ISCTE)
Jorge Teixeira (CEAUP)
Maria da Luz Ramos (CEAF/ISCSP – University of Lisbon)
ISCSP African Students Nucleus


Publication of congress proceedings in Africana Studia (CEAUP)

Global Afrikan Strategic Reparatory Justice Efforts at the PFPAD, ICJ, and AU - The Board As Seen By Siphiwe Baleka

In 2019, Siphiwe Baleka, President of the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA) started a campaign to make the Apostolic edict known as the Dum Diversas (June 18, 1452) recognized as the official start of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and to establish the status of its victims under international law as prisoners of war due reparations, including repatriation and citizenship in their African homelands. After launching the campaign,

  • the Catholic Church has received a PRESENTMENT TO THE HOLY SEE IN FURTHERANCE OF REPARATIONS;

  • the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent has been briefed on the transgenerational epigenetic effects and ethnocide committed against the victims;

  • the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action has been briefed on the New Afrikan Independence Movemant and Human Rights;

  • the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) has been issued a MANDATE TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ON THEIR STATUS AS PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER THE GENEVA CONVENTION;

  • PFPAD has itselfed engaged the Pope concerning the PRESENTMENT TO THE HOLY SEE IN FURTHERANCE OF REPARATIONS;

  • and now, on April 14, 2023, the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, paid a visit to the International Court of Justice to discuss how the AU can participate in ICJ advisory proceedings and play a role in cases before the court involving AU member states.

According to Siphiwe Baleka, his diplomatic work and strategic advocacy is shaping the discourse and moving the needle forward towards a collective framework for reparatiory justice for Afro Descendant peoples.

The Board As I See It: Developments Concerning Global Afrikan Strategic Litigation, PFAD, ICJ and AU

by Siphiwe Baleka

On June 25, 2019, I published Volume 3 of Balanta B’urassa, My Sons: Those Who Resist Remain. A chapter entitled The Sovereign Claim of Guine Against Slavery discussed the contest of laws existing between sovereign powers at the moment when my ancestors came into contact with European Christians and revealed the circumstances that led up to the Portuguese invasion of the West Coast of Africa. That was the moment when the lightbulb went off and I realized with precision and clarity, how, when, where and why the Trans Atlantic Slave trade started. It was the moment when I understood the Apostolic Edict known as the Dum Diversas and the evil it unleashed in the world that has yet to be rectified. Before June 2019, no one was talking about the Dum Diversas Papal Bull in international forums or media. But then . . . .

October 29, 2019 - I published LEGAL ISSUES EFFECTING BALANTA AS A RESULT OF CONTACT WITH EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS

November 6, 2019 I published DEVELOPMENT OF LEGAL ISSUES CONCERNING BALANTA PEOPLE and SUMMARY OF LEGAL ISSUES CONCERNING BALANTA PEOPLE highlighting the Dum Diversas.

July 27, 2020 - I published the Lineage Restoration Movement Declaration

September 24, 2020 I published BALANTA RESPONSE TO THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO ON THE 47TH GUINEA BISSAU INDEPENDENCE DAY

November 13, 2020 - BBHAGSIA PRESIDENT ADDRESSES THE WORKING GROUP OF EXPERTS ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT AT THE UNITED NATIONS

November 24, 2020 I published Oligarchy: The Spiritual and International Legal Wars Against the Balanta

April 6, 2021 I published CLARIFYING THE POLITICAL AND LEGAL STATUS OF 1,108 GENERATIONS OF MY FAMILY

May/June 2021, by this time I had sharpened my understanding of my history and launched the Decade of Return Initiative in Guinea Bissau. Group 2 included Balanta descendants and BBHAGSIA Members Kamm Howard and Robin Rue Simmons. During their visit, we met with the Minister of Tourism, the Minister of Culture, and the Minister of Sports and other government and military officials and voiced our request for citizenship based on our birthright and right of return under the Geneva Convention as dna-tested Balanta descendants.

Shortly after their visit, on September 23, 2021 I published Lessons From Amilcar Cabral and Siphiwe Baleka: The Dum Diversas War and the Incomplete Independence of Guinea Bissau.

October 13, 2021 - I published MOTION TO THE AFRICAN UNION EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 39th EXTRAORDINARY SESSION DRAFTED BY BBHAGSIA PRESIDENT AND SUBMITTED TO THE AU ECOSOCC SECRETARIAT THROUGH THE ZAMBIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

January 31, 2022 - I published TOWARDS A RIGHT TO RETURN & CITIZENSHIP POLICY FOR DESCENDENTS OF PEOPLE TAKEN FROM TERRITORIES IN AFRICA DURING THE TRANSATLANTIC TRAFFICKING AND ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICAN PEOPLE: CASE STUDY GUINEA BISSAU

February 7, 2022 - Siphiwe Baleka Defines The Right To Return at the RTRA Press Conference

July 18, 2022 - Balanta Descendants and BBHAGSIA members Robin Rue Simmons and Kamm Howard travel to the Vatican. Kamm Howard delivered the PRESENTMENT TO THE HOLY SEE IN FURTHERANCE OF REPARATIONS to Bishop Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council of Culture. The PRESENTMENT details the historical record that affirms that the Roman Catholic Church santioned, through the use of Apostolic edicts known as “Papal Bulls”, the destruction of African kingdoms, the plunder of African wealth, and resources, total war on African people, and the perpetual enslavemenent of Africans and their descendants. “These Bulls and others”, states the PRESENTMENT, “provided the justification for the trafficking and enslavement of Black African human beings, as well as European imperialism and colonization in Africa—all in the name of Jesus Christ.'‘

The document concludes by stating,

“COMPELLED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW, CUSTOMS, AND NORMS REGARDING REDRESS FOR TOTAL WAR, WAR CRIMES, AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, AND ENCOURAGED BY THE WORDS AND SPIRIT OF THE ENCYCLICAL FRATELLI TUTTI, IN WHICH POPE FRANCIS CALLS FOR A DEEPENED SENSE OF OUR SHARED HUMANITY, WE SEEK FULL REPARATIONS AND HEALING FOR PEOPLE OF AFRICAN ANCESTRY…. CONSEQUENTLY, FROM ALL THE ABOVE, THE HOLY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS A PROFOUND MORAL AND LEGAL OBLIGATION OF FULL REPARATIONS.”

It is the legal obligation stemming from Pope Nicholas V’s Dum Diversas declaration of total war against African people that BBHAGSIA President Siphiwe Baleka has been emphasizing in various international forums and working committees directed at members of the African Union and especially to the Republic of Guinea Bissau. The legal argument was laid out in September 2021 in Lessons From Amilcar Cabral and Siphiwe Baleka: The Dum Diversas War and the Incomplete Independence of Guinea Bissau and January 2022 in TOWARDS A RIGHT TO RETURN & CITIZENSHIP POLICY FOR DESCENDENTS OF PEOPLE TAKEN FROM TERRITORIES IN AFRICA DURING THE TRANSATLANTIC TRAFFICKING AND ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICAN PEOPLE: CASE STUDY GUINEA BISSAU which was a source document for the PRESENTMENT.

December 19, 2022 - I published Strategic Reparations Litigation: Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects, Ethnocide and Prisoner of War Claims - A Look at Cases Against France and the United States

January 3, 2023 - Permanent Forum on People of African Descent President Epsy Cambpell Bar Request to Pope Francis for the Catholic Church to seek forgiveness, reparation and reconciliation with peoples of African Descent in America and the Caribbean towards the path of Human Fraternity. Bar’s Request noted that “Kamm Howard, Director of Reparations United . . . made a presentation describing the active role of the Catholic Church in relation to the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the institution of slavery, as well as discussing the reparative actions that are necessary to address the damages caused. The following was stated: "The Catholic Church has admitted that it played a role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and the purpose of our meeting was to provide a roadmap that will allow us to move toward true restorative justice. The focus will now be on ongoing conversations to move the work forward and ensure that reparations become a reality."

March 5, 2023 - I published TAKING THE AFRO DESCENDANTS CASE TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: A PEOPLES' MANDATE ISSUED TO THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

March 8, 2023 - BBHAGSIA President Siphiwe Baleka Presents "Ethnocide: Genocide's Twin Sister" at the 9th Annual Genocide and Human Rights Research Conference

March 30, 2023 - on Thursday, March 30, 2023 the Vatican’s development and education office said the theory of the “Doctrine of Discovery” – which still informs government policies and laws today – was not part of the Catholic Church’s teachings. The most problematic part of the statement declared,

“The legal concept of “discovery” was debated by colonial powers from the sixteenth century onward and found particular expression in the nineteenth century jurisprudence of courts in several countries, according to which the discovery of lands by settlers granted an exclusive right to extinguish, either by purchase or conquest, the title to or possession of those lands by indigenous peoples. Certain scholars have argued that the basis of the aforementioned “doctrine” is to be found in several papal documents, such as the Bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493). 6. The “doctrine of discovery” is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church. Historical research clearly demonstrates that the papal documents in question, written in a specific historical period and linked to political questions, have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.”

In response, the following day I published DON'T BE FOOLED! THE VATICAN'S STATEMENT ON THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY IS WORDPLAY!

13 April 2023 - The International Court of Justice authorizes the African Union to participate in the proceedings concerning the Request for an Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

14 April 2023 - H.E. Mr. Bankole Adeoye, African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, paid a visit to the International Court of Justice at its seat, the Peace Palace, in The Hague. Mr. Adeoye, accompanied by a delegation, met with H.E. Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the Court, H.E. Mr. Jean-Pelé Fomété, the Court’s Deputy-Registrar, and members of its Registry. Topics discussed included the African Union’s participation in advisory proceedings and the role the Union can play in cases before the Court involving African States.

26 April 2023 - Human Rights and Justice with host Nkechi Taifa: Episode 34 - "Reparations Utilizing International Instruments with Siphiwe Balenta"

28 April 2023 - I presented AMILCAR CABRAL AND THE RETURN OF PRISONERS OF WAR ENSLAVED IN THE AMERICAS: CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF BALANCING ETHNIC IDENTITY AND NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS DURING THE DECADE OF RETURN INITIATIVE IN GUINEA BISSAU at the Amilcar Cabral International Congress in Lisbon, Portugal.

1 May 2023 - BALANTA SOCIETY STATEMENT TO THE 32ND SESSION OF THE WORKING GROUP OF EXPERTS ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

25 May 2023 - I helped Illinois Representative Carol Ammons draft HR 292 ILLINOIS PASSES HR292 RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE DNA TESTING AND REPARATIONS FOR VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION TO ANCESTRAL HOMELANDS IN AFRICA - HIGHLIGHTS BALANTAS FROM AMERICA

27 May 2023 - As part of the 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐖𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 sponsored by the NCOBRA Health Commission and the NCOBRA Education commission, I presented The Unfinished Business of Malcolm X and Imari Obadele: Taking Our Claim to the International Court of Justice

30 May 2023 - I made my STATEMENT TO THE 2ND SESSION OF PFPAD: MANDATE TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE ICJ

2 June 2023 - I published AN OPEN LETTER TO EPSY CAMPBELL BARR IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CLOSE OF THE 2ND SESSION OF THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

8 June 2023 - I conducted the 1st Meeting of the Lineage Restoration Council of Guinea Bissau

10 June 2023 - I published Direct and Certain Causal Nexus: Reparatory Justice for Quantifiable Harms and The Importance of the PFPAD Mandate to Request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ)

19 June 2023 - for the Juneteenth National Reparations Virtual Teach in hosted by Krystal Muhammad of the New Black Panther Party, I presented JUNETEENTH: THE LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION'S RECOGNITION OF NEW AFRIKAN RIGHTS UNDER NATURAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, THE 14TH AMENDMENT FRAUD & THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF MALCOLM X AND IMARI OBADELE

28 June 2023 - PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Bar Agrees to sign a Request for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the Status of Afro Descendants Enslaved in the Americas.

11 July 2023 - The Inter American Commission for Human Rights (IAHCR) dismissed my landmark ethnocide petition. READ THE PETITION CHARGING THE UNITED STATES WITH ETHNOCIDE THAT WAS DISMISSED BY THE INTER AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

16 July 2023 - Thieves enter my house and steal only laptops - “Petty Theft” or “Special Op”? Office of Reparations Activist Burglarised, Laptops Stolen

21 July 2023 - I attended the meeting of the U.S. State Department to address the ICCPR July 12 Civil Society Consultation regarding the United States’ upcoming presentation to the Committee on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Optional Protocols.

25 July 2023 - PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Barr’s Official Response to the Mandate Requesting an ICJ Advisory Opinion.

28 July 2023 - Tanya, Susana & the Djola (aka Felupe) Essangai: A Story for the Lineage Restoration Council of Guinea Bissau

2 September 2023 - Siphiwe Baleka, President of the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation meets with the new Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Mr. Albino Gomes

7 September 2023 - Decade of Return to Guinea Bissau Coordinator Siphiwe Baleka meets with the New Minister of Tourism, Faustino Mamadu Saliu Jaló

7 September 2023 - Nkechi Taifa's Human Rights and Justice Podcast: Episode 52 Featuring Siphiwe Baleka

19 September 2023 - BBHAGSIA President Siphiwe Baleka Presents at the Future Black America Conference

26 September 2023 - ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE CAROL AMMONS AND BBHAGSIA PRESIDENT SIPHIWE BALEKA DISCUSS AFRICAN AMERICAN PRISONER OF WAR STATUS, ETHNOCIDE AND THE PLEBISCITE FOR SELF DETERMINATION

10 October 2023 - A Letter Urging PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Bar to Immediately Fulfill the Mandate Given by Civil Society to Request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice

17 October 2023 - United States Confronted About State-Sanctioned Ethnocide Against Balanta People at the United Nations

15 November - WHO IS AN AFRICAN EXPERT ON REPARATIONS?

17 November 2023 - Balanta Society Report from the Accra Reparations Conference, November 14-17, 2023

22 November 2023 - Input on the Request for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the Status of Afro Descendants Under the Geneva Convention

28 November - STOP CALLING IT A SLAVE TRADE: YOUR ANCESTORS WERE PRISONERS OF WAR! NKECHI TAIFA REFLECTS ON THE TEACHINGS OF IMARI OBADELE

30 December 2023 - Plebiscite Workshop at the New Afrikan People's Convention, December 30, 2023

4 January 2024 - A Matter of War: Imari Obadele, Our Enslavement in the 13 Colonies and the United States, the Republic of New Afrika and Reparations

3 February 2024 - The Interim Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika Applies to Renew Observer Status at the African Union

26 February 2024 - Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika Advises African Union Legal Reference Group

26 April 2024 - Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika Statement to the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

26 April 2024 - THE POLITICAL-LEGAL HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA AND THE WAR WAGED AGAINST IT BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

27 April 2024 - Analysis by the Republic of New Afrika of Legal Issues Requiring an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice

27 April 2024 - IS THE UN PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT THE LATEST REFINEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC COLONIALISM?

9 May 2024 - Republic of New Afrika Minister of Foreign Affairs Siphiwe Baleka Concludes Successful Diplomacy Tour in Ougadougu, Burkina Faso

19 May 2024 - The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika addressed the Afrodescendant Nation National Reparations Convention in Washington, D.C.

27 May 2024 - PGRNA Minister of Foreign Affairs Siphiwe Baleka discussed the UN Permanent Forum and the Request for an Advisory Opinion from the ICJ on the 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒘 podcast

29 May 2024 - ARE BLACK PEOPLE IN AMERICA STILL PRISONERS OF WAR IF THEY HAVE VOTED?

June 9, 2024 The Correctness of Shifting from the European "Slave Trade" to the African "War Crimes" Narrative: Notes on José Lingna Nafafé's New Book on the 1684 Mendonça (Kongo) Reparations Case at the Vatican

June 14, 2024 Republic of New Afrika Minister of Foreign Affairs on RealTalk: History as a Weapon for Black Liberation, Black Power Media Network podcast

Jun 21, 2024 Balanta Leaders Present at Juneteenth Commemoration Highlighting the Need for Reparatory Justice

June 28, 2024 THE UNITED STATES AND ITS COLONIAL EMPIRE

July 12, 2024 The Republic of New Afrika Returns to the African Union for Diaspora Day

Jul 20, 2024 BALANTA LEADERS SPEAK ON THE HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF NEW AFRIKAN FOREIGN RELATIONS

August 10, 2024 SIPHIWE BALEKA THE HISTORY & IMPORTANCE OF NEW AFRIKAN FOREIGN RELATIONS

August 13, 2024 CULTURAL CARRYOVERS, EPIGENETICS AND CONNECTING THE DOTS: BALANTA, PALMERES AND THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA - A TRADITION OF LIBERATION, INDEPENDENCE AND REPARATIONS

August 15, 2024 THE ABSENCE OF THE BLACK NATIONALISTS IN TODAY’S REPARATIONS MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: A FAILURE TO LEARN THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

August 17, 2024 𝐏𝐆𝐑𝐍𝐀 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 - Queen Mother Audley Moore's Speech to the Summit Meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Kampala, Uganda - July 28, 1975

August 18, 2024 IMARI OBADELE ON MALCOLM X AND REPARATIONS

August 31, 2024 AN ANSWER TO THOSE WHO SHIFT THE BLAME TO AFRICANS FOR SELLING THEIR OWN PEOPLE INTO CHATTEL SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS

September 29, 2024 NCOBRA Internation Affairs Commission Quarterly Zoom: PGRNA Minister of Foreign Affairs and BBHAGSIA President Discusses The Role of the African Union and Reparations

October 5, 2024 The State of the Pan African Movement in Africa Today hosted by Forum One Africa & Institut Syans Kilti with Lazare Ki-Zerbo, Hon. Aminta Traore, Lagoke Gnaka, Professor Aziz Fall, Felipe Noguera, and Hon Siphiwe Baleka.

October 6, 2024 Haitian Leader Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier speaks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika

October 21, 2024 BALANTA SOCIETY PRESIDENT ADVOCATES FOR AFRICAN DIASPORA RIGHT OF RETURN AT 81ST SESSION OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION FOR HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS

Oct 22, 2024 CONSULTATIVE MEETING HELD WITH CHAIR OF WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS AND MINORITIES IN AFRICA

October 22, 2024 THE TRUE STORY OF THE 9TH PAN AFRICAN CONGRESS - ALL THE BACKGROUND

November 8, 2024 PGRNA MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS MESSAGE TO BLACK PEOPLE IN AMERICA FOLLOWING THE ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP TO THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

November 12, 2024 ELECTING THE AFRICAN DIASPORA/AU 6TH REGION REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE AFRICAN UNION ECONOMIC SOCIAL AND CULTRAL COUNCIL (AU-ECOSOCC)

November 17, 2024 TOWN HALL MEETING SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES ELECTIONS PROCESS FOR AFRICAN DIASPORA REPRESENTATIVES TO THE AU-ECOSOCC 4TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

November 22, 2024 Keynote at Unleashing the Power of the Youth: Building a Better A Better Africa and A Better World

December 1, 2024 African Diaspora Town Hall Meeting With Former Special Advisor to AU-ECOSOCC Ms. Evelyn Joe - "Variance between AU Member States' and AU's Definition of the Diaspora"

December 12, 2024 Bureaucrats, Gatekeepers and the Attempt to Sabotage the African Diaspora 6th Region Elections

January 16, 2025 GUINEA BISSAU GRANTS CITIZENSHIP TO AFRICAN DIASPORA

January 20, 2025

January 20, 2025 SIPHIWE BALEKA SPEAKS ABOUT THE ONGOING LEGACY OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AT THE COOPERATIVE REPAIR EVENT

January 22, 2025 AFRICAN DIASPORA REPATRIATION & CITIZENSHIP DATA

January 31, 2025 Siphiwe Baleka on the Africa Bridge TV Network: The African Diaspora Assembly 6th Region Elections

February 6, 2025 GUINEA BISSAU GRANTS CITIZENSHIP TO TEN MORE AFRO DESCENDANTS

February 6, 2025 Voices of Liberation | Siphiwe Baleka on Self-Determination, Reparations & The African Union

February 20, 2025 AU ECOSOCC and the African Diaspora 6th Region: Reflections on My Crusade While Returning from the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union

February 28, 2025 A Response to Tadesse Simie Metekia's article, AU ‘Year of Reparations’ should look to the future and the past

February 28, 2025 Voices for Liberation: Siphiwe Ka Baleka - International Reparations; Updates from the African Union

March10, 2025 African Diaspora 6th Region Provisional Assembly Town Hall Meeting

March 12, 2025 AFRICAN DIASPORA 6TH REGION UBUNTU COALITION FOR ENGAGING IN THE AU THEME OF THE YEAR

March 12, 2025 AFRICAN DIASPORA 6TH REGION SANKOFA UBUNTU: THE RIGHT-NOW UNIFICATION MOMENT

March 19, 2025 EIN Presswire Refuses to Distribute Press Release about Plebiscite for Reparations for Afro Descendants

March 22, 2025 Siphiwe Baleka Recommends Groundbreaking DNA Testing, Lineage Restoration, Repatriation and Self Governing Territories to Illinois' African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission

April 1, 2025 The Military Order of Jesus Christ in Portugal Started the Misnamed TransAtlantic Slave Trade

April 9, 2025 Making A Reparations Claim Under the Geneva Convention for the Crime of Ethnocide Resulting from Enslavement

April 18, 2025 Discussing Decolonization and liberation with Russ Christopher, activist and freedom fighter in the U.S. Virgin Islands

April 19, 2025 Exciting News: Pan African Treaty of the Sixth Region African Diaspora is FINALISED!

April 20, 2025 Rastafari, Repatriation and Citizenship Case Study in Tanzania: Mzee Saburi Omega, the Face of The Right To Return During the African Union's Themed Year "Reparations".

April 22, 2025 THE NEW NARRATIVE FOR THE AFRICAN UNION'S THEMED YEAR "REPARATIONS FOR AFRICANS AND PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT THROUGH REPARATIONS"

April 25, 2025 SEND THE PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVE TO THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS AND TO THE VATICAN TO FIGHT FOR REPARATIONS

April 30, 2025 REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS DELIVERS LETTER TO U.S. GENERAL MICHAEL LANGLEY AT THE UNITED STATES LIASON OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN GUINEA BISSAU.

May 5, 2025 HISTORY OF THE MODERN REPARATIONS MOVEMENT THAT STARTED IN THE UNITED STATES AND HAS SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE AFRICAN WORLD

May 10, 2025 Afrodescendents’ DNA Testing, Right of Return and Plebiscites Claims Presented at the 83rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

May 18, 2025 Afro Descendants Receive Their Passports in Guinea Bissau; African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Commends President of Guinea Bissau for Recognizing Afro Descendants' Right to Return

May 20, 2025 OMOWALE & THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA • w/ Siphiwe Baleka

May 25, 2025 Emperor #HaileSelassie’s visit to the US, #Malcolm X 100th Anniversary

May 29, 2025 AU ECOSOCC DIASPORA CONSULTATIONS CONTINUE TO DISAPPOINT AFRODESCENDANTS IN THE AU 6TH REGION

June 6, 2025 What Role for the Afro Descendants in the African Union's Commission for International Law (AUCIL) and the Proposed Legal Reference Group? The Case of the Republic of New Afrika

June 10, 2025 NCOBRA International Affairs Commission Hosts Workshop on REPARATIONS, DECOLONIZATION AND SELF DETERMINATION: SPOTLIGHT ON THE VIRGIN ISLANDS, BONAIRE AND ST MAARTE

June 16, 2025 BLACK SUMMER 2025: DECLARATION OF SELF-DETERMINATION FOR NEW AFRIKAN AND AFRODESCENDANT PEOPLES

June 26, 2025 Friends of President Ibrahim Traoré in the West Delegation Begins Successful Mission in Burkina Faso

June 27, 2025 Friends of President Ibrahim Traoré in the West Delegation Meets with the President of the Commission for the Alliance of Sahel States

July 2, 2025 Honoring the Father of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD): Silis Muhammad and His Interventions On Behalf of Afrodescendant Self Determination

July 2, 2025 BLACK INDEPENDENCE DAY LIVE INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST JULY 4

July 10, 2025 Next Steps Following Historic Mission of the Friends of President Ibrahim Traoré in the West Delegation

July 15, 2025 NEW! CITIZENSHIP UPDATE FOR GUINEA BISSAU, BURKINA FASO AND BENIN

July 26, 2025 Special Envoy to Burkina Faso Siphiwe Baleka Discusses The Global African Struggle Against US Imperialism, Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism on Time for an Awakening with Brother Elliott

Aug 15, 2025 MESSAGE TO 250 MILLION AFRODESCENDANTS: OUR RIGHT TO RETURN TO AFRICA, REPARATIONS, THE UN, THE AU, THE AES, BURKINA FASO, PRESIDENT IBRAHIM TRAORE & THE STATUS OF PAN AFRICANISM

Aug 27, 2025 WILL THE DECADE OF REPARATIONS RESULT IN THE FOLLY OF THE AU-LED REPARATIONS ELITE CAPTURE? WHY CITIZENSHIP IS THE HEART OF THE PROCESS & THE 1ST PRIORITY IS TO TAKE THE VATICAN TO THE ICJ AND ICC

Aug 29, 2025 TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHO ARE THE JIHADISTS IN BURKINA FASO, NIGER AND MALI AND WHY THEY ARE WAGING WAR IN THE ALLIANCE OF SAHEL STATES: A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION BY THE SPECIAL ENVOY TO BURKINA FASO

Sep 9, 2025 HISTORIC BALANTA WEDDING: DAUGHTER OF FORMER PRESIDENT OF GUINEA BISSAU MARRIES LEADER OF THE BALANTAS ENSLAVED IN AMERICA

Oct 1, 2025 The Republic of Guinea Bissau to Conduct Civil Marriage Ceremony on the 172nd Anniversary of the Emancipation and First Free Marriage of the Baleka Family in America

Oct 11, 2025 Afrodescendants of Burkinabé Origin Petition President Ibrahim Traoré For Citizenship Under Their Right of Return

Oct 14, 2025 Afrodescendants Right of Return Champion Urges Republic of Guinea Bissau Council of Ministers to Approve Twenty-Nine More Citizenships

Oct 28, 2025 Siphiwe Baleka Champions Afrodescendants' Right of Return and Holds Vatican Accountable for Reparations for Ethnocide @ the 85th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

Oct 31, 2025 GUINEA BISSAU GRANTS CITIZENSHIP TO EIGHT MORE AFRODESCENDANTS

Nov 7, 2025 Siphiwe Baleka's Input to the the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the first draft of a General Recommendation on reparations

Nov 12, 2025 “I Want My Gambian Passport In My Hands” – Afrodescendants Revive Citizenship Campaign in Gambia

Nov 13, 2025 Afrodescendants of Sierra Leonean Origin Petition Julius Maada Bio for recognition of their Right to Return - Join Afrodescendants of Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso Origin

Nov 14, 2025 Siphiwe Baleka Presentation on Reparations & the Vatican at the II Seminário Internacional Pró Reparações in Brazil

Nov 14, 2025 The African Union and CARICOM are Killing the Reparations Movement! Siphiwe Baleka and former International Court of Justice (ICJ) Judge Patrick Robinson Speak Out

Nov 18, 2025 NEW! Afrodescendant Theocratic Special Envoy Extraordinary and Reparations Expert at the 9th Pan African Congress in Lomé, Togo December 8-12: Make Your Recommendations for the Working Commissions

Nov 28, 2025 URGENT ACTION – Imminent Military Trial & Arbitrary Detention of Mr. Djeukam TCHAMENI (Cameroon)

Dec 10, 2025 Siphiwe Baleka at the 9th Pan African Congress in Lomé, Togo: Calls for Amnesty for Political Prisoners and Prioritizing the Political Unification of African and Afrodescendant People

Dec 10, 2025 Siphiwe Baleka Presents African Unity Equation in Commission 6 of the 9th Pan African Congress in Lomé, Togo

Dec 13, 2025 The State Capture Of Pan Africanism Is A Fait Accompli: Shenanigans At The 9th PAC of Lomé - The Manner In Which It Was Organized Is Its Fundamental Flaw

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Sometimes, you just do your work and the Ancestors will take care of the rest. From my perspective, the extent and direct influence of my work on global developments may never be known, but I can safely say that things I set out to achieve, to use the Dum Diversas declaration of total war as the framework for discussing reparatory justice for the period of European trafficking, enslavement and ethnocide is becoming a reality. Further, to fulfill the work of Malcolm X, Imari and Gaidi Obadele to bring the United States before the World Court is also moving forward. Finally, to get the African Union involved in our reparatory justice efforts is also happening. I have been theorizing and strategizing this since 1997 when Dr. Y.N. Kly gave me an assignment to study the UN 1503 Procedure and the Rastafari Community gave me a mandate to settle repatriation and immigration issues on behalf of their members living on the Shashemane, Ethiopia land grant back in 2003. Here I am twenty years later trying to negotiate this for all Afro Descendants once and for all in our lifetime. I am confident that both PFPAD and the AU will play its role and advocate for our right to return under the Geneva Convention and that the ICJ will issue an advisory opinion substantiating this.

Dr. Y.N. Kly and Dr. Imari Obadele