U.S. Says Committed To Confronting Discrimination, Injustices Around The World

The Biden administration is aiming to promote equality and eliminate discrimination as part of its foreign policy around the world, top U.S. officials said in Washington, TURAN's U.S. correspondent reports.

Desiree Cormier Smith, the State Department's recently appointed first-ever racial equity and justice Special Representative, was speaking to reporters, alongside a panel of experts and officials, during a briefing organized by the Department's Foreign Press Center.

"In this historic new rule, I am focused on advancing racial and ethnic equity and justice globally through our foreign affairs work," as she described it. "It is my job to ensure that U.S. foreign policy, programs, and processes advance the human rights of people belonging to marginalized racial and ethnic groups, including indigenous peoples, and that we are working to combat systemic racism, discrimination, violence, and xenophobia around the world," she explained.

Systemic racism makes societies “”less stable, less peaceful, and less prosperous, as the Special Representative Smith put it. "So beyond it being the morally right thing to do, addressing racial inequities is in our national security interest."

The U.S, she added, is "committed to advancing equity for members of marginalized racial and ethnic communities both at home and abroad."

August 31 marked the International Day for People of African Descent.

For Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. representative to the United Nations, honoring this day "means not shrinking away from our painful past or our current responsibilities to remove the rot of systemic racism from our societies," she said.

Last year, the U.S. supported the creation of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and nominated Howard Law Professor Justin Hansford to serve on the inaugural body. "This new and necessary space represents a real, tangible victory at the UN." Amb Thomas-Greenfield said.

The Forum will meet this December (5-9) and next June. "Both of those meetings will be public," Prof. Hansford told reporters.

Speaking as the briefing, Congressman Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the U.S. is "inextricably connected" to many countries by a common history of colonialism, conquest, the transatlantic slave trade.

"But we’re also linked by an unwavering desire to enjoy freedom, equality, representation, and prosperity, not just for a few but for us all," he said.

These goals, however, will not be met "if we do not recognize that our national interests, suffering, and potential are all very closely linked," he added.  "What affects our neighbors impacts us here."

"Our future is also tied to the fate of many historically marginalized groups.  We must support and protect these communities in the region and around the world and lead a global commitment to continue to fight the global pandemic, and to ensure sustainable development, inclusive investment, lasting peace, and of course, prosperity," Chairman Meeks emphasized.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.