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05 December 2000
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Regional Conference
Americas and the Caribbean
Santiago de Chile
5-7 December 2000
SPEECH OF MARY ROBINSON,
UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND
SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE
WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM,
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA
AND RELATED INTOLERANCE
Mr. Vice-President,
Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Excellencies
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I recall the very special circumstances of my first visit to Chile, when I made a State visit here as President of Ireland in 1995. Now it is a particular pleasure to return to Chile on the occasion of this Regional Conference of the Americas and the Caribbean. I should like to warmly thank the Government of Chile for hosting and organizing this event. I would also like to say a particular word of thanks to a person whom I believe shares a special place in the hearts of all Chileans, former President Patricio Aylwin, who has helped me greatly as my special regional advisor on human rights for the Latin American and Caribbean region. Allow me also, in the context of this regional conference, to pay tribute to an historic Chilean personality, Mr. Hernan Santa Cruz, who participated in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, who was the chairperson of the ad hoc committee on apartheid in the 1950s, and who also wrote a landmark study of the United Nations on the subject of racial discrimination in 1970.
The Americas and the Caribbean form a very important region of the world. As part of the New World, its place is to fashion new approaches and new ways of solving problems. Its mission is to lead by example. In the course of my various visits to different States of the region, I have seen for myself that the region - from South America to Central America; from the Caribbean to North America - is a rich and complex mixture of different racial, ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups. In short, the region is one of great racial and cultural diversity. Herein lies a hidden wealth and capacity for mutual enrichment. It is for the States of this large and magnificent region to rise to the challenge to overcome racism and xenophobia and thereby ensure the political and economic stability and the progressive realization of just and fair societies throughout the region. To fail to meet this challenge is simply unthinkable.
This Conference builds on the work of the expert seminar on economic, social and legal measures to combat racism with particular reference to vulnerable groups, held in Santiago from 25 to 27 October of this year. It is my hope that that expert seminar, along with expert seminars that my Office has organized in other regions of the world, will contribute ideas and recommendations that can be considered for possible inclusion in the documents to be adopted here over the next three days. This Conference also provides an important opportunity to reflect on the past and to formulate policies and action-oriented proposals for the future. It is my hope that this Regional Conference will make progress in a positive and a productive spirit, with a forward-looking message that States and civil society in the region are ready to combat and overcome racism and xenophobia wherever they exist and in whatever form they present themselves.
The New World's special problems: looking positively towards the future requires recognizing the realities of the past and present
The Americas and the Caribbean are sometimes referred to as Athe New World@, and with reason. The region is characterized by a great dynamism, a spirit of warmth and friendliness, and a belief that one can overcome almost any obstacle and achieve virtually anything with sufficient energy and resourcefulness. However, while the term Athe New World@ is for these reasons and others a source of pride to many, it can also evoke a cry of pain to others who have been left out, who are marginalized and who are poor. Many of these Ahave nots@ also tend to be those of darker skin colour who, like their ancestors, have experienced both extreme poverty and suffered from severe forms of racism and xenophobia. Despite the enormous technological, industrial and agricultural achievements in the region, inequality of wealth and income are among the highest in the world. Structural inequalities in wealth and income and the close association between racial discrimination and extreme poverty defines many of the problems of racism and xenophobia in the Americas and the Caribbean.
The special problems of indigenous peoples
While 1492 marks the discovery of the Americas and the Caribbean by European colonizers, the colonization of the Americas and the Caribbean also caused immeasurable harm to the way of life and culture of indigenous peoples who had until that time inhabited the region. The colonial conquest resulted in massive loss of life of the indigenous inhabitants of the region, the loss of their lands, forced conversion to foreign religions, and attempts to suppress indigenous languages and cultures.
Sadly, the suffering of indigenous peoples endures to this day. The persistence of the problems of indigenous peoples in the region has been noted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Among the things that have been noted by the Committee in its reports on various States in the region are:
- that the right to security of the person has been violated in certain cases by law enforcement officials, paramilitary groups and landowners, and that the perpetrators of such acts often have gone unpunished thus giving rise to an atmosphere of impunity;
- that there have been reports of excessive violence being used against members of indigenous peoples as well as arbitrary arrests;
- that efforts for land delimitation and land distribution, even in cases where the law clearly provides for it, do not seem always to have been fully respected in practice and that bureaucratic and other obstacles impede such efforts;
- that there is inadequate protection of the political rights of members of indigenous peoples, including their participation in elections, national parliaments and the public service;
- that there is a lack of effective protection of the law and effective remedies in national courts for human rights violations due to the lack of interpreters and the insufficient availability of public legal defenders;
- that there is often a lack of adequate legislation and remedies to protect victims of racial discrimination;
- that there is an absence of legal guarantees of bilingual and bicultural education for indigenous peoples;
- that members of indigenous groups frequently live in extreme poverty;
- that there is a lack of adequate economic and social indicators on the situation of indigenous peoples.
While a number of States in the region have taken legal and other measures to recognize the identity and rights of indigenous peoples, and have adopted programmes to assist them, nevertheless the evidence suggests that attitudes have been changed only marginally and that much remains to be done. This Conference provides an important opportunity to take stock of what has been done to date, and what strategies need to be devised to recognize the identity and rights of indigenous peoples throughout the region.
Slavery and its aftermath: the special problems of African-Americans
Alas, slavery was to be found in one form or another in most territories of the region with the last States formally abolishing it in the mid-nineteenth century. Even when slavery was abolished, in most States little thought was given to the survival or well-being of the newly freed peoples. The freed slaves found themselves with a legacy of poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to health care and political powerlessness. Slavery left a legacy of enormous structural inequality and racial injustice in most countries of the region which - while some progress has been made - largely continues in one form or another to the present time.
African-Americans have been particularly the subject of racial discrimination in the region. At the Santiago Regional Expert Seminar in October of this year, Afro-Latins came in numbers to plead their case and to seek redress for continuing discrimination, exclusion, marginalization, denial of the existence of their problems, economic and social inequalities, and indignities of varying kinds. They complained of the invisibility of discrimination against Afro-Latin Americans in the eyes of the outside world. This cry of conscience must be heard and we must openly admit the problems of Afro-Latins and take concrete and effective measures in the name of justice.
Mestizos
I would like to now turn my attention to the issue of mestizos, a term that is used in particular in Latin America. There is often subtle racial discrimination based on gradations in skin colour and racial origin. I am aware that slightly different terms may exist in different countries of the region, but I would like to underline that this kind of discrimination, subtle and non-institutionalized, is nevertheless dangerous and a reflection of attitudes and practices that need to be combatted. In a sense, this kind of racial discrimination is particularly pernicious because, while a significant number of persons would deny it even exists, it appears in reality to perpetuate a racially discriminatory way of thinking in discrete and subtle ways. The fight to overcome racial discrimination is also an appeal to the hearts and minds of all people, of their everyday attitudes, and it is particularly appropriate that we keep this in mind for this very special, subtle and non-institutionalized form of racial discrimination.
Migrants
I would like to turn briefly to the subject of migrants in the region. In addition to the traditional divide between the United States and Canada on the one hand, and Latin America and the Caribbean on the other, it is important to acknowledge that migration is also a sub-regional problem within Latin America and indeed even within the Carribean. Issues relating to inter country migration are not new. Although these migratory flows do not have the same dimensions as flows to the United States and Canada, they are significant and demand appropriate and non-discriminatory policies throughout the region.
National Measures
A serious obstacle to overcoming racial discrimination is a reluctance to admit it exists. If States are not ready to openly acknowledge that racism is a problem, then there is little hope any meaningful progress can be made. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the position of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is that racial discrimination potentially exists in all States and territories, and that the threshold issue of admitting its existence is primordial.
Let me, in this regard, cite a number of national measures that have been adopted by different States to fight racism and xenophobia which I believe are worthy of note. A number of countries in the region have constitutional provisions which refer to their indigenous populations. Bilingual intercultural education has also been introduced by some States. Concerning special educational measures for the disadvantaged, a number of countries of the region have taken special measures. In the realm of the media, some countries have introduced legislation for the inclusion of non-whites in television productions, films and advertisements. On the issue of political participation, an innovative idea recently used was the establishment of special electoral districts for indigenous and black communities.
I would suggest that States in the region establish, or reinforce where they exist, national human rights institutions and ombudspersons for ethnic and racial equality. Another measure Governments can take is to make full use of international instruments, including the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the International Labour Organization's Convention 169 on indigenous peoples. I would strongly urge that Governments which have not ratified these instruments do so. I would also urge States to ratify the International Convention on Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which needs only half a dozen additional ratifications to enter into force.
Looking towards the World Conference
The Durban World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance provides a significant opportunity for a new direction and a new energy to fighting both contemporary and traditional forms of racism. This Regional Conference has been preceded by the European Regional Conference and five regional expert seminars. It will be followed by regional conferences in Dakar in January 2001 and in Teheran in February 2001. These events, combined with the meeting of the inter-sessional working group in March 2001 and the second session of the Preparatory Committee in May 2001, should allow the international community to cover the entire range of issues in the different regions of the world, thereby enriching and enhancing the deliberations of the World Conference itself.
What I would like to see in the coming months prior to the World Conference is for each nation to examine its record and explore ways and means of how it can improve relations between racial and ethnic groups in its society. I would like each country to face up to its own particular legacy of history, including the consequences of colonial conquest, of slavery, of genocide, of traditional and contemporary forms of racial discrimination. I would also like the World Conference to have a particular focus on gender and racism.
My central message for the upcoming World Conference is that there is but one human family, regardless of race, colour, descent, ethnic or social origin, and that for too long diversity has been treated as a threat rather than a gift. Too often that threat has been expressed in racial contempt, in exclusion and intolerance. Instead of allowing diversity of race and culture to become limiting factors in human exchange and development, we must refocus our understanding and discern in such diversity the potential for mutual enrichment and benefit.
In fulfilling a new vision for diversity and tolerance for the twenty-first century, we must have an inclusive approach to national identity. It is also important for States to make a commitment to equal treatment of all persons regardless of their racial or ethnic origin by their public institutions, including law enforcement, prison and judicial authorities. It is equally important for States to make a commitment to the adoption or the reinforcement of anti-discrimination laws, as well as an adequate institutional framework for their effective implementation.
States must make a commitment to a non-discriminatory policy in their treatment of non-citizens. It is also vital that States recognize that racial discrimination is an inhibiting factor to economic development, and that they make a commitment to overcoming extreme poverty which frequently reinforces racial stereotypes and has the potential to create mutual resentment, suspicion and in some cases open conflict. The challenges are real, but addressing them can change many peoples' lives for the better.
I wish you a successful regional conference.
Thank you.
Americas and the Caribbean
Santiago de Chile
5-7 December 2000
SPEECH OF MARY ROBINSON,
UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND
SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE
WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM,
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA
AND RELATED INTOLERANCE
Mr. Vice-President,
Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Excellencies
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I recall the very special circumstances of my first visit to Chile, when I made a State visit here as President of Ireland in 1995. Now it is a particular pleasure to return to Chile on the occasion of this Regional Conference of the Americas and the Caribbean. I should like to warmly thank the Government of Chile for hosting and organizing this event. I would also like to say a particular word of thanks to a person whom I believe shares a special place in the hearts of all Chileans, former President Patricio Aylwin, who has helped me greatly as my special regional advisor on human rights for the Latin American and Caribbean region. Allow me also, in the context of this regional conference, to pay tribute to an historic Chilean personality, Mr. Hernan Santa Cruz, who participated in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, who was the chairperson of the ad hoc committee on apartheid in the 1950s, and who also wrote a landmark study of the United Nations on the subject of racial discrimination in 1970.
The Americas and the Caribbean form a very important region of the world. As part of the New World, its place is to fashion new approaches and new ways of solving problems. Its mission is to lead by example. In the course of my various visits to different States of the region, I have seen for myself that the region - from South America to Central America; from the Caribbean to North America - is a rich and complex mixture of different racial, ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups. In short, the region is one of great racial and cultural diversity. Herein lies a hidden wealth and capacity for mutual enrichment. It is for the States of this large and magnificent region to rise to the challenge to overcome racism and xenophobia and thereby ensure the political and economic stability and the progressive realization of just and fair societies throughout the region. To fail to meet this challenge is simply unthinkable.
This Conference builds on the work of the expert seminar on economic, social and legal measures to combat racism with particular reference to vulnerable groups, held in Santiago from 25 to 27 October of this year. It is my hope that that expert seminar, along with expert seminars that my Office has organized in other regions of the world, will contribute ideas and recommendations that can be considered for possible inclusion in the documents to be adopted here over the next three days. This Conference also provides an important opportunity to reflect on the past and to formulate policies and action-oriented proposals for the future. It is my hope that this Regional Conference will make progress in a positive and a productive spirit, with a forward-looking message that States and civil society in the region are ready to combat and overcome racism and xenophobia wherever they exist and in whatever form they present themselves.
The New World's special problems: looking positively towards the future requires recognizing the realities of the past and present
The Americas and the Caribbean are sometimes referred to as Athe New World@, and with reason. The region is characterized by a great dynamism, a spirit of warmth and friendliness, and a belief that one can overcome almost any obstacle and achieve virtually anything with sufficient energy and resourcefulness. However, while the term Athe New World@ is for these reasons and others a source of pride to many, it can also evoke a cry of pain to others who have been left out, who are marginalized and who are poor. Many of these Ahave nots@ also tend to be those of darker skin colour who, like their ancestors, have experienced both extreme poverty and suffered from severe forms of racism and xenophobia. Despite the enormous technological, industrial and agricultural achievements in the region, inequality of wealth and income are among the highest in the world. Structural inequalities in wealth and income and the close association between racial discrimination and extreme poverty defines many of the problems of racism and xenophobia in the Americas and the Caribbean.
The special problems of indigenous peoples
While 1492 marks the discovery of the Americas and the Caribbean by European colonizers, the colonization of the Americas and the Caribbean also caused immeasurable harm to the way of life and culture of indigenous peoples who had until that time inhabited the region. The colonial conquest resulted in massive loss of life of the indigenous inhabitants of the region, the loss of their lands, forced conversion to foreign religions, and attempts to suppress indigenous languages and cultures.
Sadly, the suffering of indigenous peoples endures to this day. The persistence of the problems of indigenous peoples in the region has been noted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Among the things that have been noted by the Committee in its reports on various States in the region are:
- that the right to security of the person has been violated in certain cases by law enforcement officials, paramilitary groups and landowners, and that the perpetrators of such acts often have gone unpunished thus giving rise to an atmosphere of impunity;
- that there have been reports of excessive violence being used against members of indigenous peoples as well as arbitrary arrests;
- that efforts for land delimitation and land distribution, even in cases where the law clearly provides for it, do not seem always to have been fully respected in practice and that bureaucratic and other obstacles impede such efforts;
- that there is inadequate protection of the political rights of members of indigenous peoples, including their participation in elections, national parliaments and the public service;
- that there is a lack of effective protection of the law and effective remedies in national courts for human rights violations due to the lack of interpreters and the insufficient availability of public legal defenders;
- that there is often a lack of adequate legislation and remedies to protect victims of racial discrimination;
- that there is an absence of legal guarantees of bilingual and bicultural education for indigenous peoples;
- that members of indigenous groups frequently live in extreme poverty;
- that there is a lack of adequate economic and social indicators on the situation of indigenous peoples.
While a number of States in the region have taken legal and other measures to recognize the identity and rights of indigenous peoples, and have adopted programmes to assist them, nevertheless the evidence suggests that attitudes have been changed only marginally and that much remains to be done. This Conference provides an important opportunity to take stock of what has been done to date, and what strategies need to be devised to recognize the identity and rights of indigenous peoples throughout the region.
Slavery and its aftermath: the special problems of African-Americans
Alas, slavery was to be found in one form or another in most territories of the region with the last States formally abolishing it in the mid-nineteenth century. Even when slavery was abolished, in most States little thought was given to the survival or well-being of the newly freed peoples. The freed slaves found themselves with a legacy of poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to health care and political powerlessness. Slavery left a legacy of enormous structural inequality and racial injustice in most countries of the region which - while some progress has been made - largely continues in one form or another to the present time.
African-Americans have been particularly the subject of racial discrimination in the region. At the Santiago Regional Expert Seminar in October of this year, Afro-Latins came in numbers to plead their case and to seek redress for continuing discrimination, exclusion, marginalization, denial of the existence of their problems, economic and social inequalities, and indignities of varying kinds. They complained of the invisibility of discrimination against Afro-Latin Americans in the eyes of the outside world. This cry of conscience must be heard and we must openly admit the problems of Afro-Latins and take concrete and effective measures in the name of justice.
Mestizos
I would like to now turn my attention to the issue of mestizos, a term that is used in particular in Latin America. There is often subtle racial discrimination based on gradations in skin colour and racial origin. I am aware that slightly different terms may exist in different countries of the region, but I would like to underline that this kind of discrimination, subtle and non-institutionalized, is nevertheless dangerous and a reflection of attitudes and practices that need to be combatted. In a sense, this kind of racial discrimination is particularly pernicious because, while a significant number of persons would deny it even exists, it appears in reality to perpetuate a racially discriminatory way of thinking in discrete and subtle ways. The fight to overcome racial discrimination is also an appeal to the hearts and minds of all people, of their everyday attitudes, and it is particularly appropriate that we keep this in mind for this very special, subtle and non-institutionalized form of racial discrimination.
Migrants
I would like to turn briefly to the subject of migrants in the region. In addition to the traditional divide between the United States and Canada on the one hand, and Latin America and the Caribbean on the other, it is important to acknowledge that migration is also a sub-regional problem within Latin America and indeed even within the Carribean. Issues relating to inter country migration are not new. Although these migratory flows do not have the same dimensions as flows to the United States and Canada, they are significant and demand appropriate and non-discriminatory policies throughout the region.
National Measures
A serious obstacle to overcoming racial discrimination is a reluctance to admit it exists. If States are not ready to openly acknowledge that racism is a problem, then there is little hope any meaningful progress can be made. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the position of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is that racial discrimination potentially exists in all States and territories, and that the threshold issue of admitting its existence is primordial.
Let me, in this regard, cite a number of national measures that have been adopted by different States to fight racism and xenophobia which I believe are worthy of note. A number of countries in the region have constitutional provisions which refer to their indigenous populations. Bilingual intercultural education has also been introduced by some States. Concerning special educational measures for the disadvantaged, a number of countries of the region have taken special measures. In the realm of the media, some countries have introduced legislation for the inclusion of non-whites in television productions, films and advertisements. On the issue of political participation, an innovative idea recently used was the establishment of special electoral districts for indigenous and black communities.
I would suggest that States in the region establish, or reinforce where they exist, national human rights institutions and ombudspersons for ethnic and racial equality. Another measure Governments can take is to make full use of international instruments, including the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the International Labour Organization's Convention 169 on indigenous peoples. I would strongly urge that Governments which have not ratified these instruments do so. I would also urge States to ratify the International Convention on Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which needs only half a dozen additional ratifications to enter into force.
Looking towards the World Conference
The Durban World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance provides a significant opportunity for a new direction and a new energy to fighting both contemporary and traditional forms of racism. This Regional Conference has been preceded by the European Regional Conference and five regional expert seminars. It will be followed by regional conferences in Dakar in January 2001 and in Teheran in February 2001. These events, combined with the meeting of the inter-sessional working group in March 2001 and the second session of the Preparatory Committee in May 2001, should allow the international community to cover the entire range of issues in the different regions of the world, thereby enriching and enhancing the deliberations of the World Conference itself.
What I would like to see in the coming months prior to the World Conference is for each nation to examine its record and explore ways and means of how it can improve relations between racial and ethnic groups in its society. I would like each country to face up to its own particular legacy of history, including the consequences of colonial conquest, of slavery, of genocide, of traditional and contemporary forms of racial discrimination. I would also like the World Conference to have a particular focus on gender and racism.
My central message for the upcoming World Conference is that there is but one human family, regardless of race, colour, descent, ethnic or social origin, and that for too long diversity has been treated as a threat rather than a gift. Too often that threat has been expressed in racial contempt, in exclusion and intolerance. Instead of allowing diversity of race and culture to become limiting factors in human exchange and development, we must refocus our understanding and discern in such diversity the potential for mutual enrichment and benefit.
In fulfilling a new vision for diversity and tolerance for the twenty-first century, we must have an inclusive approach to national identity. It is also important for States to make a commitment to equal treatment of all persons regardless of their racial or ethnic origin by their public institutions, including law enforcement, prison and judicial authorities. It is equally important for States to make a commitment to the adoption or the reinforcement of anti-discrimination laws, as well as an adequate institutional framework for their effective implementation.
States must make a commitment to a non-discriminatory policy in their treatment of non-citizens. It is also vital that States recognize that racial discrimination is an inhibiting factor to economic development, and that they make a commitment to overcoming extreme poverty which frequently reinforces racial stereotypes and has the potential to create mutual resentment, suspicion and in some cases open conflict. The challenges are real, but addressing them can change many peoples' lives for the better.
I wish you a successful regional conference.
Thank you.