UN General Assembly
2011

outmoded and increasingly illegitimate body is allowed to decisively insert itself into local and regional conflicts. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is adamant that the Security Council must be reformed, and that the reform must be underpinned by the expansion of the Council in the permanent and non-permanent categories alike, with full regard for the legitimate aspirations of Africa and the necessary accommodations for small island developing States, 19 11-51360 which have valuable and creative perspectives on peacebuilding and conflict resolution. The International Year for People of African Descent, which was declared with much fanfare, is almost at an end. I am grateful to the United Nations, which has hosted a number of events to raise awareness of the challenges facing people of African descent and foster discussions on potential solutions to tackle those challenges. Racial discrimination was justified and itself became the justification for a brutal, exploitative and dehumanizing system. That system was perfected during the transatlantic slave trade and ingrained over the course of colonial domination. The structure of the