The declaration focuses on the harms perpetrated by colonialism and its close siblings - neocolonialism, apartheid, and segregation. Its purpose it to highlight past harms but also their ongoing effects, for the purpose of bringing healing to Africans and people of African descent and importantly to African communities and socioeconomic systems. The coalition of those who wrote the declaration helpfully highlight the role of various actors in perpetrating harm, acknowledging the complexity of this history and its ongoing effects: European governments, private institutions, corporations, financial institutions, and families, along with certain Africans in particular places who participated (which the coalition states requires investigation of the historical data). 

They look for results in the short term such as "independent, self-sufficient knowledge systems and Black media/Communications platforms," towards the goal of raising awareness of Global African movements and their call for healing and reparations. Other steps include coming up with clear definitions of and criteria for reparations and encouraging African political leaders and institutions to take center stage. More long term results would include the return of artifacts and human remains to the communities from which they were stolen, a global summit to facilitate truth-telling and reconciliation, and the contribution of all towards "prosperous economies" throughout Africa.

The demands coming from African communities calling for justice and from Afro-descendants in the US surely overlap at many points, as all were harmed in some form by one complex global system made possible by colonial power and greed. They diverge, of course, where African-Americans have a need to focus on issues particular to the US and their relationship to the US government and wider society.