INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION COMMEMORATED AT PALAIS DES NATIONS IN GENEVA

21 March 2006

Theme of Commemoration is “Fighting Everyday Racism”


A high-level panel commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was held today at the Palais des Nations in Geneva and the theme was “fighting everyday racism”.

In the message of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the commemoration event, which was read out by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, the Secretary-General said, “We must not tolerate the creeping rot of routine discrimination. Nor can we resign ourselves to it as a regrettable attribute of human nature. None of us is born to hate. Intolerance is taught and can be untaught”.

The Secretary-General said the United Nations, through its awareness programmes, international law-making and rights-monitoring roles, had an important part to play, but everyone had to join the battle.

This year’s observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was marked by a series of exhibitions, panels and other events organized by the United Nations Office at Geneva and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to draw attention to the continuing fight against all forms of racial discrimination.

In the keynote address, Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the battle for equality and non-discrimination was an ongoing one, and despite the many efforts undertaken by the international community, racism and racist practices continued to spread in subtle, vicious and insidious ways. They were internalised in everyday life through a variety of processes of socialization. Moreover, measures taken at the national level to combat racism were often not effective. The reasons why, in spite of the adoption of legislation, policies and programmes, signifying progress remained to be made towards the eradication of racism and racial discrimination, needed to be identified and addressed, one by one.
Ms. Arbour said her Office was determined to make the struggle against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance a priority, cutting across all areas of its activities.

Participants in the high-level panel emphasized the need to continue combating all forms of racial discrimination that was still reigning in the world today. They also stressed that international instruments designed to fight the phenomenon of racial discrimination should be strengthened, while monitoring measures were reinforced.

Participating in the high-level panel were Manuel Rodríguez-Cuadros, Chairperson of the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights, Nimalka Fernando, President of the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism; and Juan Martabit, Chairperson of the Inter-Governmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, who was the moderator.

In the course of the event, the winners of a Geneva school competition on the theme “The Difference, what is that? Racism, exclusion, prejudices” received a special prize from the High Commissioner.

Leo Kaneman, Director of the Geneva International Film Festival on Human Rights, and Isabel Gattiker, member of the organizing committee of the Geneva International Human Rights Film Festival, spoke on the role of the festival in promoting human rights and intercultural interactions among youth.

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed in commemoration of the Sharpeville tragedy that took place on 21 March 1960, in South Africa.


Message from UN Secretary-General

SERGEI ORDZHONIKIDZE, Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, read out the message of KOFI ANNAN, the UN Secretary-General, in which he recalled that on 21 March 1960, police in apartheid South Africa fired on a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville protesting racially discriminatory laws. Dozens of protestors died, and many more were wounded. Today, the international community commemorated the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre not only to remember the lives that were lost, but to draw attention to the broader suffering inflicted by racial discrimination worldwide.

“The focus of this year’s commemoration, “Fighting Everyday Discrimination”, challenges us to take meaningful steps to fight commonplace discriminatory practices in our societies. We are all aware that many of man’s greatest atrocities have had racial underpinnings, but the collective toll inflicted by routine racism is frequently overlooked. Indeed, the edifices of humanity’s most horrific crimes have often been built on the foundations of banal bigotry,” the Secretary-General said.
“We must not tolerate the creeping rot of routine discrimination. Nor can we resign ourselves to it as a regrettable attribute of human nature. None of us is born to hate. Intolerance is taught and can be untaught. Legal guarantees are a fundamental part of this fight. But education must be its vanguard. Education can foster awareness and cultivate tolerance,” the Secretary-General added.

He said this education should begin at home -- where, after all, many racist attitudes had their origin -- continue in school, and become integral to public discourse. In this struggle against intolerance, citizens must simultaneously be teachers and students.

“The United Nations, through its awareness programmes, international law-making and rights-monitoring roles, has an important part to play. But all of us need to join this battle,” the Secretary-General said. On this International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, he urged the international community to reaffirm that ultimate success in this struggle rested with ordinary citizens speaking out against ordinary intolerance.

Statement by High Commissioner for Human Rights

LOUISE ARBOUR, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, recalled that the Sharpeville tragedy had led the General Assembly to proclaim 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The international community had come a long way in the journey towards respect of equality and non-discrimination, but it still had a long distance to go, Ms. Arbour said. Today, the international community celebrated the many steps the world had taken to free itself from racial discrimination and to mark triumph over the dark days of the past. The UN human rights system had initiated the struggle against racism through early standards setting.

Ms. Arbour said in 1965, the General Assembly had provided the world community with a legal instrument by adopting the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Today, the Convention, which specified the measures that 170 States around the world had agreed to undertake, remained the main international legal tool to combat racial discrimination. Further, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was the first body created by the United Nations to monitor and review actions by States to fulfil their obligations under a specific human rights agreement.

Five years ago, the international community assembled in a free South Africa for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to address the various forms of racism that continued to plague the world, she said. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action defined a road map towards a world free from racial discrimination. It had also inspired many countries in setting up anti-discrimination schemes including the elaboration of national plans of action, anti-discrimination legislation and specified bodies designed to combat all forms of discriminations.

Ms. Arbour said the battle for equality and non-discrimination was an ongoing one. Despite the many efforts undertaken by the international community, racism and racist practices continued to spread in subtle, vicious and insidious ways. They were internalised in everyday life through a variety of processes of socialization. Moreover, measures taken at the national level to combat racism were often not effective. The reasons why, in spite of the adoption of legislation, policies and programmes, signifying progress remained to be made towards the eradication of racism and racial discrimination, needed to be identified and addressed, one by one.

This year, the theme for the commemoration was “Fighting Everyday Racism”, Ms. Arbour said. Racism was sustained largely through routine and taken-for-granted practices and attitudes in everyday life. The day-to-day realities of racism also operated through and interfered with gender and other systems of oppression. Everyday racism could take many forms. It was expressed notably through subtle face-to-face interactions, offensive name-calling, the use of derogatory labels, racist jokes, hostile staring, suspicious glances, insulting gestures, bad service or denial of access to public places, rude or awkward interpersonal exchanges, the avoidance of interaction, the avoidance of proximity, and exclusion from a social group.


Ms. Arbour said her Office was determined to make the struggle against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance a priority, cutting across all areas of its activities.

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action stated that a victim-oriented perspective was an important tool for the elimination of racial discrimination. By focusing on fighting everyday racism and by giving a greater voice to victims of racism, the celebration of this year was in line with her Office Plan of Action, which aimed at protecting human rights and empowering people to assert and claim their rights.

Concluding, Ms. Arbour said many people were victimized every day because of who they were and how they appeared to others. “We stand in solidarity with them and with all victims of intolerance as we renew our commitment to eliminate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” she said.

High-Level Panel on “Fighting Everyday Racism”

JUAN MARTABIT, Chairperson of the Inter-Governmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, who was the moderator, said that the events and discussions that had been organized in Geneva over the past week had served as a reminder that racist attitudes could take place very close to home. The fight against such injustice must begin with individuals, who must decide to make a difference in the lives of their neighbours and those they met in daily life. The legal approach to fighting racism though international monitoring mechanisms had a vital role to play as did intellectual mechanisms and the promotion of cultural diversity. Multicultural education was of particular importance as was an education, which fostered values of tolerance including the understanding of history and cultural diversity.

LEO KANEMAN, Director of the Geneva International Film Festival on Human Rights, said that the aim of the festival was to point to discrimination occurring around the world and to point to its causes. The rejection of difference was to be found daily around the world. This had to be tacked early on in childhood. Daily racism if not controlled could give rise to terrible tragedies.

ISABEL GATTIKER, Member of the Organizing Committee of the Geneva International Human Rights Festival, said that the Festival had included film workshops and debates aimed at children and young adults. “What is the difference?” was an exhibition of artwork by children and young adults soon to be exhibited in the Palais des Nations.

Continuing, she handed out awards to the best student entries in the competition “Tell me about human rights”, which had been based on the theme “The Difference what is that?”

MANUEL RODRIGUEZ-CUADROS, Chairperson of the Sixty-Second Session of the Commission on Human Rights, said that there was a link between Sharpeville, a milestone in the fight against apartheid, and the daily occurrence of racial discrimination. The child who was discriminated against because of his ethnic origin experienced the suffering of a personal Sharpeville, as did the worker who had all the necessary skills, but saw access to his job denied to him because of the colour of his skin.

The international community had to attach fresh value to national and local circumstances in the fight against racism and encourage a programme to combat racism in daily life. For example, having a global league of cities bound together in the fight against racial discriminations, or a global entrepreneurial initiative to fight racism and xenophobia. Culture was the key component in this campaign. He congratulated the organizers of the events, in particular the children that took part in the competition.

NIMALKA FERNANDO, President of the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, said the world was seeped in racism and religious intolerance. The global economic and political order continued to marginalize people in an unbelievable proportion. Despite awareness raising campaigns and human rights mechanisms, hatred was flourishing. Since September 11th, human rights had been further abused under the slogan of smashing terrorists. Sri Lanka was classic example of a failed Nation State and had been engaged in an ethnic war dragging on for two decades.

Panel Discussion

In the ensuing discussion, the panel stressed the importance of holding human rights film festivals around the world. Through the cinema, a very important role could be played in the field of human rights and racial discrimination and those working on these themes should be encouraged to continue. Racism was a scourge and an evil that was becoming more acute. A long path had to be walked and the international community must remain ready to do its part.
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