Professor Verene Shepherd, University Director of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies (UWI) and Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGPAD) will lead a mission to the United Kingdom from October 1-5, 2012. The Mission is designed to gather first-hand information on the situation of people of African descent in that country. Also participating in the Mission are: Chair-Rapporteur; Ms. Monorama BISWAS(Bangladesh); Ms. Mireille FANON-MENDES-FRANCE (France); Ms. Mirjana NAJCEVSKA (The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and Ms. Maya SAHLI (Algeria). 
 
By invitation of the Government of the United Kingdom, the Mission is the first visit to the United Kingdom by any independent expert group appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor the rights of people of African descent.
 
The Working Group will visit London and Liverpool, where they will meet with representatives from the British Government, both at the national and local levels, representatives of non-governmental organizations, people of African descent community members, academics, and others working in the field of equality and social inclusion.   
 
The Mission will focus on the completion of situational analysis of people of African descent, who, according to Professor Shepherd, has been a historically discriminated group.  The visit will also explore good practices and challenges faced in realising the rights of people of African descent in the UK, with particular reference to access to education, health care, employment, political participation and the administration of the justice system including racial profiling and the role of the media. 
 
The Mission concludes on Friday, October 5, 2012, with a press conference by the Working Group at the UN Refugee Agency, Strand Bridge House, London, during which preliminary findings will be shared. 
 
While on mission to the United Kingdom, Professor Shepherd will also be a panellist at the Jamaican High Commission to the United Kingdom’s on its programme Jamaica at 50: Challenges of an Independent Nation. She will co-present with his Excellency Judge Patrick Robinson and Mr. Cecil Gutzmore.