UN expert hails role of equality bodies and action plans in combating racism

NEW YORK / GENEVA (2 November 2016) – States should maximize the use of specialized equality bodies and national action plans to tackle racism and xenophobia, a United Nations human rights expert has said.

Using these tools was key to identifying the causes and shaping new policies, said the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mutuma Ruteere.

“National specialized bodies and national action plans address the root causes of discrimination in areas such as employment, housing, education, the justice system, law enforcement and access to different goods and services,” Mr. Ruteree said, presenting a report* to the UN General Assembly. “They also drive change in State and private organizations.”

The Special Rapporteur outlined how equality bodies could promote new policies and deliver advice to legislative and executive authorities. “The legal opinions, casework recommendations and research by these bodies make particularly important contributions to change,” he said.

“They can also be instruments of institutional change in organizations. For instance, they have helped improve the performance of public- and private-sector organizations, and have supported them in promoting equality, diversity and non-discrimination,” the expert explained.

Good examples had included advice given to local authorities on how to enhance equality in their daily work and combat discrimination in the workplace, he added.

Mr. Ruteree stressed that it was essential for the bodies to be properly resourced and to have the freedom to collect statistics, as data was key to identifying the groups most at risk. This would enable the bodies to design appropriate public policies and provide powerful tools against discrimination and exclusion, he added.

The Special Rapporteur also presented a report on combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/71/325).

(*) Read the Special Rapporteur’s report: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/71/301

Mr. Mutuma Ruteere (Kenya) was appointed by the Human Rights Council as Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in November 2011. As Special Rapporteur, he is part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. Learn more, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Racism/SRRacism/Pages/IndexSRRacism.aspx

For further information and media requests, please contact:
In Geneva: Mr. Thierry del Prado (+41 22 917 9232 / tdelprado@ohchr.org) or Ms. Yaye Ba (+41 22 917 9210 / yba@ohchr.org)
In New York: Ms Elisabeth da Costa (+1 212 963 5842 / dacosta47@un.org) or Ms. Kellie Ognimba (+1 917 367 5348 / ognimba@un.org )

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
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