INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OBSERVED AT UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA

M/99/13
19 March 1999



Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
Reads Out Secretary-General’s Message


A Round Table discussion with the theme “Towards the World Conference against Racism” was today held at the United Nations Office at Geneva in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Bertie Ramcharan, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, read out the message of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the International Day which is commemorated on 21 March but was observed today at the Palais des Nations.

In his message, Mr. Annan said this century had been scarred like no other by the evil of racism. Yet, it had witnessed, too, a revolution in the relations between races -- from America to Asia to Africa and to Europe. Ignorance and prejudice were the handmaidens of propaganda. In most modern conflicts, the men of war preyed on the ignorance of the populace to instil fears and arouse hatreds. That was the case in Bosnia and in Rwanda, where genocidal ideologies took root in the absence of truthful information and honest education. Bigotry, hatred, and prejudice were the ugly symptoms of a sickness humanity had always and everywhere suffered. The mission, therefore, was to confront ignorance with tolerance, bigotry with knowledge, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity.

Mr. Annan said that if today, globalization was creating a world community without borders, it should also give us a humanity free of the barriers of race. So, on this day, we resolve again to confront the worst in man with the best in man. Racism can, will and must be defeated.


Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, the Chairman of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), said the date of the International Day had been chosen to pay tribute to those who were massacred in Sharpeville in 1960. However, although 20 or 30 were massacred in Sharpeville, today, hundreds of thousands of massacres were still taking place which was a scandal. Many more people had been killed as a result of racial prejudice than as a result of the Second World War. They were being killed in all parts of the world, and unfortunately, they were still being killed today.

Mr. Aboul-Nasr said that Martin Luther King, Jr., had said that he had a dream. The world should join this expression of hope and adopt a dream that it one day would get rid of racial prejudice and racial discrimination. He hoped that the world would move from the codification era of instruments to an implementation era.

Ivan Garvalov, Chairman of CERD’s Contact Group for the World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, said that CERD’s experts had the needed high degree of expertise in combatting racial discrimination and contributing effectively to both the preparatory process and the conference itself and they had discussed various ideas and proposals. For example, CERD had proposed that the agenda of the World Conference could include such topics as current realities in the aftermath of slavery and colonialism; impact of economic globalization and racial equality; treatment of migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and displaced persons; prevention of racial discrimination through education; prevention of racial discrimination, including early warning and urgent procedures; international mechanisms for the implementation of the International Convention Against All Forms of Racial Discrimination and their progressive development; combatting hate speech and promoting tolerance in the digital age; and the implication of multiple identities (race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, gender).

Other proposed topics included means of developing preventive diplomacy in respect of ethnic conflicts and ways of institutionalizing peace-keeping operations by the United Nations and by regional organizations; how to ensure protection of indigenous people from racial discrimination since existing treaties do not sufficiently provide for it; how certain UN bodies, such as the World Health Organization, the International Labour Office, and Habitat, could do more to rectify the disadvantages suffered by indigenous people, migrant workers and ethnic minorities; and special efforts to ensure that the influence of the mass media was brought to bear in the most positive way possible.

Edith Ballantyne, Secretary of the Non-Governmental Organizations Sub-Committee on Racism and Racial Discrimination, said the Sub-Committee was established in 1972 to give support to the first decade against racism and racial discrimination and it continued to do this through the third decade. It was hoped that the third World Conference Against Racism would make a difference.


Ms. Ballantyne said that the phenomenon of racial discrimination was increasingly becoming part of society and there was a need for the root causes in society to be tackled. She asked to what extent growing racial discrimination was related to the growing gap between the haves and have nots in today’s world. It was hoped that the World Conference would raise awareness of the danger of allowing racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance not only to continue, but also to grown into the political field. The World Conference should chart a course to stop this trend. There was also a need to obtain the commitment of world leaders to commit to realizing the end of racism and this needed the rapid implementation of all existing conventions and agreements on this topic.

Mr. Ramcharan briefly outlined preparations for the World Conference. He noted that the Conference itself was scheduled to be held by the year 2001. The Commission on Human Rights had established an open-ended working group to begin the preparatory process, and in the year 2000 or 2001, the Commission itself would formally become the preparatory committee. This sessional working group would be meeting for the first time next week, and High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson would be addressing them. Mrs. Robinson attached the highest importance to the issue of racism and racial discrimination and considered the World Conference one of the most important upcoming human rights activities. The future of international security and individual human security depended on the international community being able to stamp out racial discrimination.

Mr. Ramcharan said the Office of the High Commissioner was trying to foster actions that could help address problems at their roots and could bring practical relief to victims in their daily lives. He noted that dissemination of information to combat hate speech and promote tolerance was of crucial importance. The adverse use of the Internet in promoting racial discrimination also had to be addressed. Issues of minorities, indigenous populations, migrants, refugees and displaced persons all required immediate attention. In conclusion, he hoped that the planning for the Conference would set the course to ending racism, racial and other forms of discrimination.