From January 16 to 18, 2025, the Bicentennial Forum for Afrodescendant Reparations took place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Held under the theme “Racial Justice with Climate Justice,” the forum was organized by RedAfros and the Coalition for Territorial and Environmental Rights of Afrodescendant Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The event aligned with several significant milestones: the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Central America, and the bicentennial of the arrival of 10,000 freed Black individuals from the United States to the Dominican Republic and Haiti in 1824. Furthermore, the forum served as a platform for Afrodescendant communities to demand full participation—with voice and vote—at the upcoming COP30 Climate Change Conference, scheduled to take place in Brazil in 2025.
A New Phase in the Fight Against Racism
The forum brought together Afrodescendant representatives from 20 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, who pledged to initiate a new phase in the struggle against all forms of racism, discrimination, and xenophobia in their respective territories.
Participants emphasized that for over four centuries, millions of African descendants in Abya Yala have endured profound harm due to colonialism and enslavement. They noted that more than a century of capitalist exploitation has further entrenched and normalized systemic and structural racism.
The Santo Domingo Declaration
The forum culminated in the “Santo Domingo Declaration,” which calls on governments to:
- Recognize the historical debt owed to Afrodescendant peoples.
- Guarantee human rights that ensure full and effective participation in all spheres of society.
- Commit to the non-repetition of oppressive and exploitative colonial policies that persisted for over four centuries.
The declaration also condemns the criminalization of Black communities in urban and rural territories under racial capitalism. It highlights the prevalence of necropolitics and structural violence fueled by state neglect, militarization of public forces, extractivism, drug trafficking, patriarchy, and the persecution and assassination of social leaders and human rights defenders.
Solidarity with Haiti and Other Affected Communities
Addressing the current crisis in Haiti, the forum committed to exposing the truth about the ongoing situation and “promoting the broadest solidarity with the dignified resistance of this brotherly nation.”
Additionally, the participants agreed to:
- Support Ecuadorian families seeking justice for the killing of four children in Guayaquil.
- Demand accountability for the murders of social leaders in Colombia, where over 100 such cases were reported in 2024.
- Denounce the harassment faced by human rights defenders in the Dominican Republic.
Advancing the Afrodescendant Agenda
Forum coordinator Darío Solano, also a representative of RedAfros, stated in an interview with LaCommunis that the event aimed to:
“Promote the Afrodescendant Agenda: toward a future of justice, reparations, and development. We are committed to advancing comprehensive historical reparations, respecting collective rights, fostering interculturality, protecting biodiversity, addressing the root causes of climate change, and defending the human rights of women, youth, children, and adolescents.”