The African Diaspora – 300M strong with a Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over $2T USD

We hosted a session on solutions proposed on the African Diaspora Directorate Conference Call Sunday, July 28th 2019 to President Trumps Tweets on Baltimore

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We accept the African Union’s 2005 definition of the African Diaspora

In 2005, the African Union defined the African Diaspora (AU) as “… peoples of African descent and heritage living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship, and who remain committed to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union.” In 2012 The AU expanded, in writing but not in fact, its membership to those who do not live in its established 5 regions to a 6th region – the African Diaspora.

The African Diaspora is mainly those persons of African descent dispersed from Africa into Europe, Asia and the Americas during Arab and European commercial slave raids. It also consists of those persons who voluntarily migrated from Africa in the 20th and 21st century. The African population in the Western Hemisphere is about 150 million persons in South America (mainly Brazil & Columbia), with 3M in Central America, 42M in the Caribbean, 22M in the Middle East, 20M in Asia (Including India/Indonesia), 13M in Europe and 50M in North America, 47M of them in the United States of America (According to the 2018 US Census Bureau Estimate)

In the case of Baltimore POTUS has given us an opportunity to develop a new Comprehensive Economic Strategy to address the regions poverty called #BaltimoresCEDS Coalition

Concept of the African Diaspora Directorate

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The Justification for the African Diaspora Directorate given to the United Nations.

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A Co-Sponsor of the African Diaspora Directorate in Friends of the African Union (2012 – present day)

We at FAU are focused on North America in 2019.

In 2012 we created Friends of the African Union and in 2013 Friends of the African Union Chamber of Commerce who today act as convener of the organs called for in these pages. In that same year Africa called at the first global African Diaspora Summit in May 2012 for her children to organize in joint operations as the African diaspora to answer through 5 legacy projects and other actions.

Friends of the African Union recognizes that the African Union, to date, is the only organization which has the structural and functional capacity to unite, and service the needs and aspirations of the more than 1.6 billion People of African Descent (#PAD, a United Nations term), globally.

We believe it can serve as the provisional government of a unified Africa as put forth in its 2013 50 year plan document Africa 2063. Friends of the African Union knows that the political fragmentation and segregation is by race and class. Many poor Africans in America have a high degree of desperation and hopelessness along with the belief that things can’t change. Friends of the African Union was created to change this perception by action; we will walk the walk, not just talk the talk – we are asking people, organizations, communities and companies to join us in changing the live of Africans in our lifetime.

FAU adopted in 2013 Africa 2063 as the global strategy to optimize use of Africa’s resources for the benefits of all Africans. In 2014 FAU adopted and has enhanced the New Future Foundation $3 Trillion Dollar Goree Island plan of New Future Foundation through a Quantitative Easing based debt purchasing plan called the Daniels IDIQ that can help to transform the members states of the AU into what it has promised in Africa 2063. FAU and allies propose in the 6^th region an approach based on how the Diaspora learned lessons of the past and now we now how to build on the progress now underway. We are assembling to do so and look forward to a productive 2016.

Since November 2015 FAU is in the process with New Future Foundation and World African Diaspora Union (WADU) of forming an alliance of civil society groups across the world to promote and strengthen the effectiveness of Africa solidarity and integration, bringing together networks to build trust and cooperation among African Diaspora civil society leaders for reflection and experience sharing in pursuit of membership in the African Union’s the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC).

We started this effort at the November 2015 meeting called by the African Union ECOSOCC at the Global African Diaspora Stakeholders Convention.

At this Convention we offered praise to Presiding Officer Chilengi, FAU and other Stakeholders formally commend him for the outstanding way in which he are conducting the work. He was most respectful in listening carefully to our statement. We appreciate the clarity he brought after listening to his speech (see here) to the delegates on Saturday Nov. 21^st 2015. We also commend his efforts to encourage Member States to participate in these sessions. It is especially meaningful that he implemented this level of exchange during one of the most significant periods in the life of the African Union with the launch of Africa 2063 which contains a broad based African mission for the next 50 years. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to express our updated views on the ECOSOCC agenda in the following document (5 pages) that was delivered to him by hand.

Handed by Hershel Daniels Junior to Presiding Officer Chilengi on November 21st 2015 at the Global African Diaspora Stakeholders Convention

RECALLING the objectives and principles enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union;

ADDITIONALLY RECALLING the Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union adopted by the First Extra-Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2003, and in particular Article 3(q) which invites the African Diaspora to participate as an important component in the building of the African Union;

RECOGNIZING the need to build sustainable partnerships between the African continent and the African Diaspora through sustainable dialogue and effective collaboration with governments and peoples of different regions of the World in which the Diaspora populations are located;

COGNIZANT of the fact that culture and identity inform all facets of development;

ACKNOWLEDGING the need to celebrate and preserve the shared heritage between Africa and peoples of African descent in the Diaspora;

BEARING IN MIND that the African Diaspora represents a historical and evolving experience which calls for an approach that is sensitive to the specificities of the different regions;

AFFIRMING the need to promote South-South Cooperation as a framework for enhancing mutual development as well as Pan-African Solidarity;

REAFFIRMING the importance of women and youth as important pillars of our society that should be mainstreamed in all Diaspora discourses and actions;

LAUDING the efforts undertaken thus far to support Africa and African Diaspora process including organizational efforts, measures and strategies pursued by the African Union;

FURTHER RECALLING relevant African Union Decisions including Decision EX.CL/Dec. 5 (III) on the Development of the Diaspora Initiative adopted by the Third Ordinary Session of the Executive Council in Maputo, Mozambique, in July 2003, Decision EX.CL/Dec. 221 (VII) on the Africa-Diaspora Process adopted by the Eighth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council in January 2006 and Decision EX.CL/Dec. 406 (XII) on the First African Union Diaspora Ministerial Conference adopted by the Twelfth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January2008 on the modalities for Diaspora participation in the organs and activities of the Union and Decision Ass/AU/Dec.205(XI) adopted by the Eleventh Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in July 2008 on the Africa Diaspora Summit, Decision, Ass/AU/Dec 354 (XVI) of the Sixteen Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2011 on the Roadmap for the Diaspora Summit, including the convening of a Technical Experts meeting in Pretoria, South Africa in February 2011 and Decision Ass/AU/Dec 367 (XVII) of the Seventeenth Ordinary Session of Assembly of the Union on the convening of a second Ministerial Conference on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2011 as well as Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 393(XVIII) endorsing the outcome and conclusions of the Second Ministerial Conference held in New York in September 2011.

ACKNOWLEDGE of the importance to the African Diaspora of the establishment of The Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) under the provision of Articles 5 and 22 of the Constitutive Act;

ACKNOWLEDGING ECOSOCC Statutes, adopted by the AU Assembly in July 2004, define it as an advisory organ composed of different social and professional groups of AU Member States (Assembly/AU/Dec.48 (III)). The first ECOSOCC General Assembly was formally launched on 9 September 2008 in Dar es Salaam, UR of Tanzania.

KNOWLEDGABLE of the Structure of ECOSOCC and that under article 4 of the ECOSOCC Statutes, the Council is composed of 150 CSOs: 1 two CSOs from each Member State; 10 CSOs operating at regional level and eight at continental level; 20 CSOs from the African Diaspora, as defined by the Executive Council and covering the continents of the world; and six CSOs, in ex-officio capacity, nominated by the AU Commission and based on special considerations, in consultation with Member States.

UNDERSTANDING that Article 4 also provides for Member State, regional, continental and Diaspora representatives to be elected on the basis of 50 percent gender equality and 50 percent aged between 18 and 35. Members are elected for four-year terms and may be re-elected once.

CONVINCED that popular participation in the activities of the African Union, as enunciated in the African Charter for Popular Participation, is a prerequisite for its success;

GUIDED by the common vision of a united and strong Africa and by the need to build a partnership between governments and all segments of civil society, in particular women, youth, the private sector and the African Diaspora, in order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among our peoples;

RECALLING the decision of the Assembly to invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of the Continent, in the building of the African Union.

CONVINCED of the need to build on these efforts and outcomes as the basis for establishing a solid foundation for the rejuvenation of the global African family as an instrument of wider renaissance;

REALIZING the imperative of a sustained and coordinated approach and ownership of the African Diaspora related programmes and projects so as to promote their effective implementation and impact;

COMMIT to cooperate in the political, economic and social areas outlined in this Report of the Global African Stakeholders Convention and Programme of Action, and implementation and follow-up modalities.

EXPRESSING our appreciation to Head of Secretariat Dr. Jinmi Adisa for his support in holding the Global African Diaspora Stakeholders Convention.

FUTHERMORE RECOGNIZING that the work of adviser on Diaspora Relations Ms Evelyn Joe in carrying out creation of the the Global African Diaspora Stakeholders Convention and recognition of her skills and outstanding quality of advise and her expressed commitment to the integration and development agenda of Africa and the African Union.

THEREBY at this the Global African Diaspora Stakeholders Convention we agree to adopt, develop and report on the implement the five legacy projects as created in South Africa 25 May 2012 at the first African Diaspora Summit as a way of giving practical meaning to the Diaspora programme and in order to facilitate the post-Summit implementation programme. These are: a) the production of a Skills Database of African Professionals in the Diaspora; b) the establishment of the African Diaspora Volunteers Corps; c) the African Diaspora Investment Fund; d) a programme on the Development Marketplace for the Diaspora, as a framework for facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship among African and Diaspora; and e) The African Remittances Institute.

AGREEMENT between the people of the African Diaspora and ECOSOCC in regards to decisions to the five tasks given unto us the people of Africa in the sixth region, as defined by AU document, on this day November 21st 2015, do hereby give this report to the leadership of the African Union.

1. We have implemented phase I of the task to create the African Diaspora Volunteer Corps at au6.global with the African Civil Society Organizations (CSO). CSO members include but are not limited to:

• Social groups such as those representing women, children, youth, the elderly and people with disabilities and special needs

• Professional groups such as associations of artists, engineers, health practitioners, social workers, media, teachers, sport associations, legal professionals, social scientists, academia, business organisations, national chambers of commerce, workers, employers, industry and agriculture, as well as other private sector interest groups

• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs) and voluntary organisations

• Cultural organisations

• Social and professional organisations in the African Diaspora (in accordance with the definition approved by the Executive Council of ECOSOCC).

2. We have created a African Diaspora Skills Database Phase I which is used in the creation of the African Diaspora Volunteer Corps so as to encourage and support the development of an African Union Diaspora Volunteer programme as a framework for associating the Diaspora directly with the development of the continent and which as of this day is in operation at AU6.global.

3. We have created this day the framework for a report to be issued by May 25th 2016 on the African Institute of Remittance based on previous actions of the African Diaspora and organs and officials of the African Union since July 16 2012.

4. We have created this day the framework for a African Investment Fund based on previous actions since July 16 2012 and the business model of the Community Reinvestment Fund which shall serve as a guide in the creation of a global organized with a ownership structure that supports the people of the African Union.

5. We Africans of the Diaspora acknowledge that under Article 11 of the ECOSOCC Statutes there is established 10 Sectoral Cluster Committees as key operational mechanisms to formulate opinions and provide input into AU policies and programmes. The Committees are: Peace and Security; Political Affairs; Infrastructure and Energy; Social Affairs and Health; Human Resources, Science and Technology; Trade and Industry; Rural Economy and Agriculture; Economic Affairs; Women and Gender; and Cross-Cutting Programmes (such as HIV/AIDS, international cooperation and coordination with other AU institutions and organs). The ECOSOCC General Assembly may recommend amendments to the established Sectoral Cluster Committees. We will endeavor have implemented preliminary work on the task to create the Development of a marketplace for African development in line with ECOSOCC Statues and shall report back to assembly not later than May 25th 2016 on the basis of the aforementioned 10 Sectoral Cluster Committees .

We do this work so as to encourage the Diaspora to organize our self in a global network and to establish appropriate mechanisms that will enable our increasing participation in the affairs of the African Union as observers and eventually, in the future, as a sixth region of the continent that would contribute substantially to the implementation of policies and programmes.

Acknowledge the responsibility of the African Diaspora to fund and host rotational AU Diaspora Conference in Africa and in the Diaspora to review the implementation of this Programme of Action.

So we sign as CSO’s and or their representatives

FAU

WADU

NFF

So we sign as Individuals

That work was done by Hershel Daniels Junior and Dr. Leonard Kweku Jeffries late into the night and finished at nearly 2 AM in the morning on November 21st 2015.

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We at FAU then updated this document to the AU’s ECOSOCC as a Minority Report during the Kwanzaa Accords Review of 2015 to read:

WE, signatures to this document do transmit it this day, December 28^th 2015, via the appropriate channels to the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, the Caribbean, the America via the OAS and United States of America.

EXPRESSING our appreciation to His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma, the Government and People of the Republic of South Africa and the African Union for the warm reception and for hosting and conducting the first Global African Diaspora Summit May 25^th 2012.