International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service 3:05am 3rd Mar, 2011   Each year on 21 March the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is celebrated. The day was established in 1966 (resolution 2142 (XXI)), in commemoration of the “massacres of Sharpeville” (1960) which killed 69 people during a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid "pass laws" in South Africa. That tragedy marked an important step in the fight against racism, and brought international attention to the need to continue fighting racial discrimination.    The international day aims to remind people of the negative consequences of racial discrimination’s and their obligation to combat it. This year, the day is devoted to combating discrimination faced by people of African descent. This focus reflects the UN General Assembly’s proclamation of 2011 as the International Year for People of African descent. Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human rights, said "this International Year offers a unique opportunity to redouble our efforts to fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance that affect people of African descent everywhere."    UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in his message for the day noted that "The discrimination faced by people of African descent is pernicious. Often, they are trapped in poverty in large part because of bigotry, only to see poverty used as a pretext for further exclusion. Often, they lack access to education because of prejudice, only to have inadequate education cited as a reason to deny them jobs. These and other fundamental wrongs have a long and terrible history, including the transatlantic slave trade, the consequences of which are still felt today."    He continued emphasizing that in order to overcome racism, public policies and private attitudes that perpetuate it should be addressed. He called upon Member States, international and non-governmental organizations, the media, civil society and all individuals “to engage meaningfully in the promotion of the International Year for People of African descent – and to work together against racism whenever and wherever it occurs.”    Various activities and events took place around the world to commemorate this international day. In Geneva, the movie “Defensa 1464” was shown, which tells the story of migrants of African descent in Argentina. Europe established the European Week Against Racism. Within the scope of the international year for people of African descent, Navi Pillay published a review about the Durban conference which includes various testimonies by victims of racism, as well as explains the issues that were under debate at the Durban conference of 2009.    World Conference against Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance    In 2001 the first World Conference against Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance was held in Durban, South Africa. This conference resulted in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action(DDPA), a comprehensive, action-oriented document that proposes concrete measures to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.    In April 2009 the Durban Review Conference (Durban II) examined global progress made in overcoming racism and concluded that much remained to be achieved. However, the conference brought renewed international commitment to the anti-racism agenda.    March 2011 (European-wide Week Against Racism)    Racism is not a local issue and the Action Week Against Racism can help to set the agenda. We have to campaign on local, regional and European level to get our message across. By linking local and national actions, we can generate European-wide publicity. We show that there is an enormous amount of people that believe in an intercultural open society. In this way its also possible for local groups to make their arguments heard and put their issues on the political and social agenda.    Cooperating in the Action Week gives all participants renewed energy and inspiration to go on with their everyday struggle against racism and intolerance.    http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/pages/act11arw.htm Visit the related web page
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item