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18 June 2001
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Washington, 18 June 2001
Speech by Mary Robinson,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
and
Secretary-General of the World Conference
against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance
Inter-American Development Bank Conference
Towards a Shared Vision of Development:
High Level Dialogue on Race, Ethnicity and
Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Issues of race, ethnicity and inclusion in the Latin American and Caribbean region go to the heart of the human rights debate there. Again and again I have been struck by this. Whether it was what indigenous people raised with me in Chiapas, or black Brazilian groups in Brazil, or those of African Descent in the Caribbean during the Preparatory Conference last December in Santiago de Chile. The message was clear. There is a deep sense of pain and of anger at the depth of discrimination, lack of recognition and exclusion, compounded by coping with extreme poverty.
Your conference is particularly timely, as we prepare for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance which will take place in Durban, South Africa from 31 August to 7 September. It would be good to see similar approaches towards a shared vision of development taking place in other regions as well.
We face a challenging task in ensuring that Durban makes a breakthrough in moving issues of racism and discrimination to the top of the international agenda. The remit of the Durban conference is much wider than that of previous world conferences. The opportunity is there for the world to engage, for the first time in the post-apartheid era, not only in an agenda of combating all forms of discrimination but in an agenda that affirms the value of diversity and sees it as gift rather than threat. It will be vital to address gender and racism and harness the energies of the women’s movement on this in every region. Future generations will not forgive us if we fail to rise to the challenge.
Race, Ethnicity and Poverty
I wish to compliment the Inter-American Development Bank for choosing to focus on the linkage between poverty, race and ethnicity. I noted a remark in one of IDB’s studies that “we know more about the diversity of Latin American industrial output than we do about the diversity of the region’s people.” Examining these issues in detail is both useful in itself and also a positive contribution to the preparations for the Durban Conference. I hope the approach will bring out the gender dimension strongly in looking at the feminization of poverty. We need to gather in good practices and approaches to serve as an example for other regions.
It is significant that a development bank such as yours has picked up on this topic. I think that it reflects a change in the approach of development institutions. More and more I encounter a willingness to accept the rationale of a rights-based approach to development on the part of institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and UNDP.
What the human rights approach says is that sustainable development in any country must rest on a foundation of respect for human rights. You cannot achieve one without the other. The hallmark of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of all of the subsequent treaties and legislation is inclusion; they take as their starting point that every individual has an inherent dignity and rights which must be respected. The right to education, to health, to adequate food and housing – all are as clearly set out in the Universal Declaration as are the right to be free from torture and unlawful imprisonment, the right to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.
Discrimination is the very antithesis of respect for universal human rights. Discrimination challenges inclusion; it says that some are inferior and hence are not entitled to be included in enjoyment of basic rights. The impact of such discrimination is evident in its crudest forms, for example, in the brutal treatment which continues to be meted out to many indigenous peoples and migrants. Recent studies are shedding more light on the long-term impact of racial discrimination in economic and social terms. I refer to a speech made by the President of the Bank, Mr. Enrique Iglesias, earlier this year when he noted that “poverty indexes broken down by race and ethnic group correlate strongly with other human development indicators such as access to health services, education and employment. A telling statistic is the World Bank finding that, in 1994, indigenous groups were among the most likely to be poor in Latin America (the poverty yardstick being an income of under two dollars a day). In Peru, 80% of indigenous people were poor – considerably higher than the 50% of non-indigenous Peruvians living in poverty. In Mexico, 80% of indigenous people were subsisting in poverty compared to 17% of non-indigenous people… The same holds true for Afro-Latin populations, whose low educational attainment, relatively scant access to health services, and other problems have recently come in for attention. Close to half of Brazil’s black population are poorer and more marginalised than poor whites. In Colombia, 85% of Afro-Colombians living on the Pacific coast are poor – well over double the 32% poverty figure elsewhere in the country. Diseases such as AIDS disproportionately afflict minority groups in Honduras. Thus, poverty in Latin America is ethnic poverty, taking its heaviest toll on the socially excluded.”
It is indeed true, as President Iglesias remarked, that the differences mentioned above are staggering and that the situation cries out for more justice and more participatory development processes in the region.
The linkages between race, ethnicity and exclusion and the need to address these effectively are reflected in the latest World Development Report which noted that: “discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, race, religion or social status can lead to social exclusion and lock people in long-term poverty traps”.
In a speech on 21 March, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Mr. Shelton Davis, the World Bank Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, cited numerous figures bearing out this conclusion, with particular reference to the 35-40 million indigenous peoples of the region and the communities of African descent. He described the Bank’s objective as being “to develop a comprehensive strategy for confronting the issues of poverty and social exclusion faced by the large populations of indigenous and African descent in the Latin American and Caribbean regions.”
I strongly support efforts to join forces in tackling these issues. In particular I would mention the inter-agency consultations organized by the Inter-American Bank, the Inter-American Dialogue, the Ford Foundation and the World Bank to heighten awareness of the relations between poverty, race and ethnicity in Latin America. I understand that this dialogue has a broad base with the participation not only of donor agencies and government representatives, but also civil society and the academic community. Institutions such as yours can play a pivotal role in making the economic case for an inclusive society free from racism and discrimination.
Non-governmental organisations and civil society generally have special insights and contributions to make as well. I saw this for myself in my recent visits to Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Chile. By way of example, I would mention the report prepared on economic, social and cultural rights by NGOs in Brazil which highlighted many of the challenges the country faces. Throughout the region NGOs, and indigenous groups in particular, have been successful in placing the concerns of minority groups on the political agenda and in some cases have succeeded in changing discriminatory legislation.
The target must be to mobilise all available resources – financial, technical and administrative - to implement gender sensitive policies which will improve the lot of the marginalised and excluded.
The Santiago Regional Conference
How does the Durban Conference fit into this? Let me refer to the Preparatory Conference for the Americas and the Caribbean which was held in Santiago de Chile last December and was well attended by representatives of all sectors of society. It adopted a forward-looking and constructive Declaration and Plan of Action. The Declaration referred to the historical richness of the continent and the important contributions which all groups make. It reaffirmed that the Americas cannot be disassociated from their multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and pluralistic nature and that the wide diversity of these societies is a contribution to human existence. The Declaration also noted that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance have been characteristics of the history of the region and that telling the truth about the history and the daily manifestations of racism is essential for reconciliation.
The Conference concluded that, despite the vast riches on the continent, the inequalities of wealth and income are amongst the highest in the world. People from marginalised ethnic groups have traditionally been amongst the poorest in society and this has been reinforced through the centuries. The Declaration observed the close links between poverty and racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The list of those in the region requiring special protection and promotion of their rights included indigenous peoples, peoples of African descent and migrants. Attention was given to the specific discrimination to which Mestizos are subjected, based on gradations of skin colour and racial origin, although in many countries they constitute the majority of the population.
The document acknowledges the special problems faced by those subject to multiple discrimination, especially women and children, causing their living conditions to deteriorate, and called on States to make efforts to overcome stereotypes that perpetuate their situation.
The Santiago Conference also addressed the issue of migration which it noted was an important phenomenon in the region, not only, as traditionally viewed, from Latin America and the Caribbean towards the United States and Canada, but also within and around the region. The Plan of Action asked States to continue regional dialogue on problems of migration and to negotiate regional and bilateral agreements on migrant workers, as well as to promote contacts with other regions to protect the rights of migrants from the Americas.
Several paragraphs in the Santiago document addressed international financial institutions, calling on these institutions to incorporate, within their future development programs, the problems facing indigenous peoples and peoples of African descent. A specific request is addressed to the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to examine how their policies and practices affect racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and other minorities in the region, and to ensure that these policies contribute to the eradication of racism.
Looking Ahead to the World Conference
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Nobody could be under any illusion that tackling poverty, racism, discrimination and social exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean is an easy task. It will not be easy anywhere in the world. The problems are deep-rooted, the scale is large. What can we look for from Durban which could help?
I see three areas where the Durban Conference can contribute in a tangible way.
- First, I am hoping for a strong declaration which reflects a new global awareness of modern manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
- Secondly, I would like there to be a practical, realistic programme of action with a clear review mechanism to assess whether governments live up to the commitments that are made.
- And thirdly I would like an alliance to be forged between governments, NGOs and institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank to carry forward the fight against racism after Durban.
In all of these objectives I need the help of the Latin American and Caribbean countries. The Americas should continue to participate actively in the preparations for Durban and in the Conference itself. The aim is nothing less than to create a new spirit of valuing diversity and to promote practical measures which will change peoples’ lives.
Is that bright future unrealistic? I want to borrow the words of Vaçlav Havel from his open letter on “ The Power of the Powerless”:
“ For the real question is whether the brighter future is really always so distant. What if, on the contrary, it has been here for a long time already, and only our own blindness and weakness has prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it?”
Thank you.
Speech by Mary Robinson,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
and
Secretary-General of the World Conference
against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance
Inter-American Development Bank Conference
Towards a Shared Vision of Development:
High Level Dialogue on Race, Ethnicity and
Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Issues of race, ethnicity and inclusion in the Latin American and Caribbean region go to the heart of the human rights debate there. Again and again I have been struck by this. Whether it was what indigenous people raised with me in Chiapas, or black Brazilian groups in Brazil, or those of African Descent in the Caribbean during the Preparatory Conference last December in Santiago de Chile. The message was clear. There is a deep sense of pain and of anger at the depth of discrimination, lack of recognition and exclusion, compounded by coping with extreme poverty.
Your conference is particularly timely, as we prepare for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance which will take place in Durban, South Africa from 31 August to 7 September. It would be good to see similar approaches towards a shared vision of development taking place in other regions as well.
We face a challenging task in ensuring that Durban makes a breakthrough in moving issues of racism and discrimination to the top of the international agenda. The remit of the Durban conference is much wider than that of previous world conferences. The opportunity is there for the world to engage, for the first time in the post-apartheid era, not only in an agenda of combating all forms of discrimination but in an agenda that affirms the value of diversity and sees it as gift rather than threat. It will be vital to address gender and racism and harness the energies of the women’s movement on this in every region. Future generations will not forgive us if we fail to rise to the challenge.
Race, Ethnicity and Poverty
I wish to compliment the Inter-American Development Bank for choosing to focus on the linkage between poverty, race and ethnicity. I noted a remark in one of IDB’s studies that “we know more about the diversity of Latin American industrial output than we do about the diversity of the region’s people.” Examining these issues in detail is both useful in itself and also a positive contribution to the preparations for the Durban Conference. I hope the approach will bring out the gender dimension strongly in looking at the feminization of poverty. We need to gather in good practices and approaches to serve as an example for other regions.
It is significant that a development bank such as yours has picked up on this topic. I think that it reflects a change in the approach of development institutions. More and more I encounter a willingness to accept the rationale of a rights-based approach to development on the part of institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and UNDP.
What the human rights approach says is that sustainable development in any country must rest on a foundation of respect for human rights. You cannot achieve one without the other. The hallmark of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of all of the subsequent treaties and legislation is inclusion; they take as their starting point that every individual has an inherent dignity and rights which must be respected. The right to education, to health, to adequate food and housing – all are as clearly set out in the Universal Declaration as are the right to be free from torture and unlawful imprisonment, the right to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.
Discrimination is the very antithesis of respect for universal human rights. Discrimination challenges inclusion; it says that some are inferior and hence are not entitled to be included in enjoyment of basic rights. The impact of such discrimination is evident in its crudest forms, for example, in the brutal treatment which continues to be meted out to many indigenous peoples and migrants. Recent studies are shedding more light on the long-term impact of racial discrimination in economic and social terms. I refer to a speech made by the President of the Bank, Mr. Enrique Iglesias, earlier this year when he noted that “poverty indexes broken down by race and ethnic group correlate strongly with other human development indicators such as access to health services, education and employment. A telling statistic is the World Bank finding that, in 1994, indigenous groups were among the most likely to be poor in Latin America (the poverty yardstick being an income of under two dollars a day). In Peru, 80% of indigenous people were poor – considerably higher than the 50% of non-indigenous Peruvians living in poverty. In Mexico, 80% of indigenous people were subsisting in poverty compared to 17% of non-indigenous people… The same holds true for Afro-Latin populations, whose low educational attainment, relatively scant access to health services, and other problems have recently come in for attention. Close to half of Brazil’s black population are poorer and more marginalised than poor whites. In Colombia, 85% of Afro-Colombians living on the Pacific coast are poor – well over double the 32% poverty figure elsewhere in the country. Diseases such as AIDS disproportionately afflict minority groups in Honduras. Thus, poverty in Latin America is ethnic poverty, taking its heaviest toll on the socially excluded.”
It is indeed true, as President Iglesias remarked, that the differences mentioned above are staggering and that the situation cries out for more justice and more participatory development processes in the region.
The linkages between race, ethnicity and exclusion and the need to address these effectively are reflected in the latest World Development Report which noted that: “discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, race, religion or social status can lead to social exclusion and lock people in long-term poverty traps”.
In a speech on 21 March, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Mr. Shelton Davis, the World Bank Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, cited numerous figures bearing out this conclusion, with particular reference to the 35-40 million indigenous peoples of the region and the communities of African descent. He described the Bank’s objective as being “to develop a comprehensive strategy for confronting the issues of poverty and social exclusion faced by the large populations of indigenous and African descent in the Latin American and Caribbean regions.”
I strongly support efforts to join forces in tackling these issues. In particular I would mention the inter-agency consultations organized by the Inter-American Bank, the Inter-American Dialogue, the Ford Foundation and the World Bank to heighten awareness of the relations between poverty, race and ethnicity in Latin America. I understand that this dialogue has a broad base with the participation not only of donor agencies and government representatives, but also civil society and the academic community. Institutions such as yours can play a pivotal role in making the economic case for an inclusive society free from racism and discrimination.
Non-governmental organisations and civil society generally have special insights and contributions to make as well. I saw this for myself in my recent visits to Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Chile. By way of example, I would mention the report prepared on economic, social and cultural rights by NGOs in Brazil which highlighted many of the challenges the country faces. Throughout the region NGOs, and indigenous groups in particular, have been successful in placing the concerns of minority groups on the political agenda and in some cases have succeeded in changing discriminatory legislation.
The target must be to mobilise all available resources – financial, technical and administrative - to implement gender sensitive policies which will improve the lot of the marginalised and excluded.
The Santiago Regional Conference
How does the Durban Conference fit into this? Let me refer to the Preparatory Conference for the Americas and the Caribbean which was held in Santiago de Chile last December and was well attended by representatives of all sectors of society. It adopted a forward-looking and constructive Declaration and Plan of Action. The Declaration referred to the historical richness of the continent and the important contributions which all groups make. It reaffirmed that the Americas cannot be disassociated from their multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and pluralistic nature and that the wide diversity of these societies is a contribution to human existence. The Declaration also noted that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance have been characteristics of the history of the region and that telling the truth about the history and the daily manifestations of racism is essential for reconciliation.
The Conference concluded that, despite the vast riches on the continent, the inequalities of wealth and income are amongst the highest in the world. People from marginalised ethnic groups have traditionally been amongst the poorest in society and this has been reinforced through the centuries. The Declaration observed the close links between poverty and racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The list of those in the region requiring special protection and promotion of their rights included indigenous peoples, peoples of African descent and migrants. Attention was given to the specific discrimination to which Mestizos are subjected, based on gradations of skin colour and racial origin, although in many countries they constitute the majority of the population.
The document acknowledges the special problems faced by those subject to multiple discrimination, especially women and children, causing their living conditions to deteriorate, and called on States to make efforts to overcome stereotypes that perpetuate their situation.
The Santiago Conference also addressed the issue of migration which it noted was an important phenomenon in the region, not only, as traditionally viewed, from Latin America and the Caribbean towards the United States and Canada, but also within and around the region. The Plan of Action asked States to continue regional dialogue on problems of migration and to negotiate regional and bilateral agreements on migrant workers, as well as to promote contacts with other regions to protect the rights of migrants from the Americas.
Several paragraphs in the Santiago document addressed international financial institutions, calling on these institutions to incorporate, within their future development programs, the problems facing indigenous peoples and peoples of African descent. A specific request is addressed to the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to examine how their policies and practices affect racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and other minorities in the region, and to ensure that these policies contribute to the eradication of racism.
Looking Ahead to the World Conference
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Nobody could be under any illusion that tackling poverty, racism, discrimination and social exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean is an easy task. It will not be easy anywhere in the world. The problems are deep-rooted, the scale is large. What can we look for from Durban which could help?
I see three areas where the Durban Conference can contribute in a tangible way.
- First, I am hoping for a strong declaration which reflects a new global awareness of modern manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
- Secondly, I would like there to be a practical, realistic programme of action with a clear review mechanism to assess whether governments live up to the commitments that are made.
- And thirdly I would like an alliance to be forged between governments, NGOs and institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank to carry forward the fight against racism after Durban.
In all of these objectives I need the help of the Latin American and Caribbean countries. The Americas should continue to participate actively in the preparations for Durban and in the Conference itself. The aim is nothing less than to create a new spirit of valuing diversity and to promote practical measures which will change peoples’ lives.
Is that bright future unrealistic? I want to borrow the words of Vaçlav Havel from his open letter on “ The Power of the Powerless”:
“ For the real question is whether the brighter future is really always so distant. What if, on the contrary, it has been here for a long time already, and only our own blindness and weakness has prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it?”
Thank you.