The Institute participated in a July 2025 convening hosted by Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez to mark the first anniversary of UN Resolution on Girls and Women of African Descent.
BY MIKAELA LUTTRELL-ROWLAND, MANAGING DIRECTOR
Keynote panel, “Together for the Restoration of Our Dignity,” in Cali, Colombia.
Photo Credit: Mikaela Luttrell-Rowland
On Friday July 25, 2025, in Cali, Colombia, a huge crowd gathered in the auditorium of Universidad Libre. The energy was vibrant and anticipatory, waiting for the speakers to arrive. The event, hosted by the office of Vice President Francia Márquez, entitled Together for the Restoration of Our Dignity: An International Day for Women and Girls of African Descent, served to memorialize and celebrate the one-year anniversary of United Nations Resolution A/RES/79/323 proclaiming July 25 as a day to celebrate the identities, achievements, and histories of girls and women of African descent worldwide.
This year, the celebration focused on transnational connections and possibilities, looking to both history and the future. In her remarks on the importance of this anniversary, Vice President Márquez shared the origins of the event and why continuing to fight racism and structural barriers and celebrate Black girls and women remains vital. The choice of July 25 as a day of commemoration reaches back over three decades ago when, in 1992, Afro-Latin American, Afro Caribbean and Diaspora women from over 30 countries gathered in the Dominican Republic to strategize and vision together. That historic gathering took root, and the group declared July 25 a day to focus on the types of resistance needed in the face of ongoing racism, inequality, and structural injustice, as well as the real possibilities for transnational solidarity.
Vice President Marquez noted: “Facing the challenge of combating racism shouldn’t just be a struggle for women of African descent, or people of African descent. It should be a struggle for humanity worldwide.”
Institute Executive Director Leymah Gbowee.
Photo Credit: Andrés Felipe Castilla, Office of Vice President Francia Márquez.
Leymah Gbowee, Executive Director of the Institute on Gender, Law, and Transformative Peace and Nobel Peace Laureate, joined this year’s important commemorative event, and spoke alongside the Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez on a panel discussing the role of Black women in contemporary democracies. Ms. Gbowee reflected on the significance of women from the Global South to be offering insights for this moment of multiple interlocking crisis around the world, and how essential the dual processes of bringing people together and pausing for celebration were during times of civil war in her country, Liberia.
Ms. Gbowee’s comments focused on the need for boldness and collaboration in times of crisis, war, and authoritarian rule. “A group of us women who had lived and felt the effect of the war, came together with 10 dollars in our handbag,” she recounted. “We issued a statement, and we decided to challenge authoritarianism in our country. For a year and a half, we protested, we walked, we gathered even when we didn’t have money. We spoke truth to power. And when the time came for peace talks, we hijacked the hall. Because there is a moment in every woman’s life, of Afro descent, that you must challenge the structures that have kept you down.”
Vice President Francia Márquez addresses the crowd at Universidad Libre.
Photo Credit: Andrés Felipe Castilla, Office of Vice President Francia Márquez.
The performance group Diokaju’s piece, Una línea de inventario.
Photo Credit: Mikaela Luttrell-Rowland
Stories of struggle, resistance and community threaded throughout the day. Indeed, to travel through time from the first meeting in 1992 to this year’s historic gathering in celebration of girls and women of Afro descent in Colombia, was to bring forth a sense of history and also possibility. The day opened with art and theatre by the performance group Diokaju — with a piece entitled Una línea de inventario (An Inventory Line). Images from the national archive of Colombia on the history of slavery in the country, mixed with live performances of song and text, provided chilling and vivid imagery, music, and emotions to begin the day, reminding the audience of multiple and interlocking types of violence people of Afro descent have had to survive.
The day proceeded with a wide variety of national and international speakers and robust panel discussions about such complexities, as well as the lived realities of women and girls of African descent. Panelists asked what it could and does mean to build towards a more just and equitable future in today’s political and economic context. They explored themes such as Black women in positions of power, economics, care, dignity, and visions from Black girlhood. Discussions were rigorous and far reaching, with speakers from across the world including Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Togo, France, and the United States.
In one panel, Samantha Perea, a 10-year-old girl from Cali spoke, and offered a compelling vision of what her dreams and hopes for a future would be. She noted the importance of having mentors and people to look up to. Haidy Duque, the Director of Families and Communities at the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) put these comments into greater context and presented a map of hope from girls representing districts across all of Colombia. Themes of peace, wellbeing, identity, economic freedom, and education stood out for their poignancy on what it would take to create a world free of violence and barriers to such dreams.
The day ended with remarks from scholar and activist Dr. Angela Davis, who affirmed the importance of such spaces and the need for such transnational vision and commitments in these times. Dr. Davis applauded how Vice President Márquez has used her influence to stand up for justice and pursue collaborative partnerships. “Thank you, Francia, for insisting that we recognize and play tribute not only to the historical and continued oppression of black women and girls all over the planet, but that we understand the crucial role of Black women’s collective leadership in ushering in radical change.”
Dr. Angela Davis delivers a keynote address.
Photo Credit: Andrés Felipe Castilla, Office of Vice President Francia Márquez.
The high energy and commitment continued into a second day for a closed exchange among the speakers on both the progress and possibilities in multilateral spaces for Black girls and women — and the urgent need to strengthen collaborations for racial and gender justice. Participants mapped out what such a vision could look like to bring such ideals into better practice.
The title of the two-day encounter, Juntas por la Restauración de Nuestra Dignidad — Together for the Restoration of Our Dignity — represented honoring history while focusing on sharing concrete actions, raising difficult and complex questions, and deepening strategic allyships towards implementing policies and practices that celebrate and center Black women and girls. As Ms. Gbowee reflected, such spaces of hope and possibility are essential in these challenging times.