Moreover, people of African descent in South, Central and North America, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and elsewhere are attaching increasing importance to the links that tie them to Africa and African heritage. The countries in which people of African descent reside are increasingly recognizing the important contribution of these citizens to the construction of their societies. These countries are currently establishing public policies that aim to rectify historical distortions and combat racism, racial discrimination and the inequalities of the past, including positive discrimination measures. In that spirit, the initiatives taken by the Brazilian Government - in particular the adoption of a law on the mandatory teaching of the history of Africans and of Afrodescendants at all levels of education by using the GHA - set a standard in this regard. The preparation and publication of Volume IX of the GHA is a positive response to the above-mentioned trends and the requests formulated by Member States at the African Union summit held in Syrte, Libya, in 2009.