Sixty years of progress at risk: Time to stop instrumentalising racism and xenophobia

GENEVA – Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a group of UN experts issued the following joint statement:

“The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination offers a particular opportunity this year as we mark the 60^th anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD, the Convention).

In the last 60 years, we have witnessed progress in the fight against racial discrimination. When UN Member States adopted resolution 2106 (XX) in 1965 and committed “to adopt all necessary measures for speedily eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations”, the aim was to make concerted efforts for concrete results as soon as possible. However, progress has not occurred at the pace and to the extent needed and expected by marginalized groups and victims of racial discrimination and today stands at serious risk of backsliding.

The progress achieved over the past 60 years is increasingly being jeopardized. Disregard for international human rights law, including ICERD, and attacks on international human rights institutions are weakening the foundations of the international system carefully devised to monitor compliance with human rights and to prevent and address atrocity crimes.

It has been recognized that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance are among the root causes of armed conflict and very often one of its consequences. Multiple conflicts with ethnic and identity dimensions are causing immense human suffering. The historical and contemporary forms of colonialism are manifesting themselves in even more dangerous terms. We are witnessing the worrying resurgence and normalization of political platforms and organizations that promote and incite racial hate and discrimination and ideas of racial superiority.  Minorities, people of African descent, people of Asian descent, Indigenous Peoples as well as migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, including women and girls, and youth, continue to face inequalities and discrimination, including multiple and aggravated forms of discrimination, based on race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, sex, gender, age, disability, language and other grounds. Efforts to ensure racial equality, such as special measures, reparations and education against racism and intolerance, are increasingly challenged.

In this extremely challenging situation, the 60^th anniversary of ICERD is a valuable opportunity to renew and strengthen the commitment to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, in particular through the full and effective implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Racial Discrimination, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and through strengthening constructive engagement with the UN human rights framework developed to eradicate racial discrimination, including the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the UN anti-racism mechanisms and the UN mechanisms working on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and Minorities. This anniversary also offers an opportunity to explore the synergies and interconnections between ICERD and other international legal human rights instruments forming a cohesive and indivisible framework to advocate for human dignity and the rights of all humanity.

We call on States to fully respect their international human rights obligations, in particular those arising from ICERD, and take prompt actions to end current conflicts, end impunity, address the root causes and prevent further human rights violations targeting people on the basis of their national or ethnic origin, and identity.

We call on States to prevent the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority, the political instrumentalization of racism and xenophobia, and to strengthen measures to effectively prevent and combat the proliferation of racist hate speech and xenophobic discourse, including on social media platforms, along with algorithmic bias, in line with international standards, including ICERD.

The second International Decade for people of African Descent and various initiatives for reparatory justice and on addressing systemic racism, at the national, regional and international levels, including by CERD, other UN anti-racism mechanisms and OHCHR, provide an important opportunity to address structural racism and the historical legacies of colonialism and enslavement. We call on States and all relevant stakeholders to actively engage with these initiatives.

Through our work, we have stressed that the devastating effects of the climate crisis and environmental degradation are disproportionately borne by Indigenous Peoples, People of African Descent as well as other racially, ethnically and nationally marginalized groups. We have also warned about the actual and potential racially discriminatory impact of new and emerging technologies.

On this day, we recall the victims of the Sharpeville massacre who protested against apartheid, and we particularly recall the women who were victims of this massacre, including Maria Molebatsi, Elisa Moletsi and Nora Mbele, in honour of their struggle.  Together with them, we pay tribute to those that fought and to all those that continue fighting against racial discrimination, slavery, segregation and apartheid. Today, we call on all States to renew the commitment made 60 years ago, to eradicate racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations. Today we call on everyone to join the global fight for racial equality and justice.