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This document
is the outcome of an international process before and during the NGO Forum
of the WCAR held in Durban, South Africa 28 August - 1 September 2001.
The Declaration and the Programme of Action is based on the understanding that
it reflects the regional processes and that the voices of the victims of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance must be heard.
03 September 2001
WCAR
NGO FORUM DECLARATION
1. We, the representatives of local, national and international non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and other civil society groups from around the world gathered in
Durban/South Africa during the week of 28 August - 3 September 2001 for the World
Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance (WCAR), guided by our commitment in the struggle against racism and
racial discrimination and inspired by the recommendations of the NGO Forums held in
Strasbourg/France, Santiago de Chile/Chile, Dakar/Senegal and Tehran/Iran and the
related sub-regional NGO meetings held in Warsaw/Poland, Kathmandu/Nepal,
Cairo/Egypt and Quito/Ecuador, in preparation for the World Conference, hereby make
the following Declaration:
2. Solemnly acknowledging all those who suffered for justice and freedom in South
Africa and honouring the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the struggle
against Apartheid and celebrating the spirit of the South African people in building a
new society free of racism and racial discrimination and recognising that as a beacon
of hope for the world community.
3. Saluting all those who struggled against racism, racial discrimination, genocide,
slavery, xenophobia and related intolerance, genocidal practices and all other forms of
discrimination and exclusion, honouring the memory of those who have given their lives
for this struggle, and other struggles against oppression and encouraging and
supporting those that continue to fight against the scourge of racism.
4. Taking note of the fact that the declaration of Apartheid as a crime against humanity
was a progressive step taken by the international community in its quest to eradicate
this inhumane racist state system, and recalling the positive role of the world
community in supporting the struggle of the South African people against Apartheid.
5. Recognizing that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and
have the capacity to contribute constructively to the development and well-being of their
societies and, that all human societies ascribed towards shared values of dignity,
equality, justice, tolerance, solidarity, pluralism and multiculturalism.
6. Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and
inalienable, and that all human beings are entitled to all these rights irrespective of
distinction of any kind such as race, class, colour, sex, citizenship, gender, age,
disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, nationality, ethnicity, culture,
religion, , caste, descent, occupation, social/economic status or origin, health, including
HIV/AIDS status, or any other status;
7. Recognizing
the richness of the diversity of cultures, languages, religions and peoples
in the world and the potential within this diversity to create a world free
of racism, racial discrimination, genocide, slavery, xenophobia and related
intolerance,.
8. Recognizing that racism, racial discrimination, genocide, slavery, xenophobia and
related intolerances are based on an ideological construct that assigns a certain group
of persons a position of political, economic and social power over others through
notions of racial superiority, colour, identity, dominance purity and majority status.
9. Reaffirming the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination (ICERD) definition that racist ideologies are 'scientifically false, morally
condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous' and economically devastating and that
there is no justification for racial discrimination in theory and in practice, anywhere.
10. Recognising the particular importance
and role of the International Criminal Court in the eradication of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and emphasising the need
for universal ratification
11. Considering that the roots of many contemporary manifestations of racism and racial
discrimination can be located in the legacy of the slave trade, slavery, colonialism and
foreign occupation which led to forced transplantation of peoples, massive
dispossession of territories and resources and the destruction of political, religious and
social systems for which acknowledgement and reparations were never made, and
which created historical injustices based on ideologies of superiority, dominance and
purity, the consequences of which continue to this day.
12. Acknowledging that in particular in countries in transition, the growth of aggressive
nationalism and ethnocentrism are expressions of racism and xenophobia not rooted
in the slave -trade but deeply embedded in historical prejudices and hatred towards
ethnic and religious minorities that often lead to large-scale human rights violations,
discrimination and persecution targeting specific groups such as Jews, Roma, Kurds,
people from the Caucasus and Central Asia, Meskhetian Turks and even frequently
resulting in 'ethnic cleansing' and crimes against humanity with elements of genocide,
particularly in the former Yugoslavia and Chechnya.
13. Acknowledging the role played by United Nations in creating international legal rights
and obligations against racism, racial discrimination, genocide, slavery, xenophobia and
related intolerance, we nevertheless deplore the fact that efforts undertaken by
governments and by the United Nations to implement these instruments and
mechanisms are grossly inadequate, exclude civil society actors and have allowed
perpetrators and accomplices to go unpunished.
14. Appalled by the persistent failure of governments and the United Nations to address
injustices and violations committed by non-state actors including injustices and
violations committed by no-state actors, including international finance and trade
institutions, transnational corporations, and fundamentalist groups exacerbates and
perpetuates racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
15. Appalled by the success and apparent increasing popularity of certain political parties
and other groups that use racist and xenophobic ideologies in gaining and maintaining
political power
16. Recognizing that state racism is often manifested by political and intellectual elites
who exploit the nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments of the general public for
political mobilization and legitimization of their authority and political power, not only in
the traditional blatant ways but also in new, more covert, institutionalized forms,
aggravated by the problem of denial of the very existence of racism by government
officials.
17. Recognizing that while all religions are founded on principles that advocate peace,
tolerance, non-discrimination, respect and acceptance of the other, and that freedom
of religion, belief and conscience contribute to the attainment of the goals of world
peace, social justice and mutual understanding among peoples, yet there are situations
in which religion is misused to further political goals that promote racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
18. Considering that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance are
the basis of gross violations of human rights and hate crimes, create and maintain
conflict, and thus hinder development and constitute a threat to peace and democracy
and must be addressed by all appropriate means, including effective legal mechanisms
at all levels.
19. Affirming that Indigenous Peoples are bearers of both collective and individual rights
which include their right to self-determination and to the legitimate exercise of control
over their resources and dominion of their territories on the basis of their historical and
cultural identity and have the right and responsibility to transmit to future generations
their ancestral territories and identity.
20. Affirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, statehood,
independence and freedom and the right of the return as stipulated in UN Resolution
194.
21. Also affirming the right to self-determination of all peoples, including the Hawaiian,
Kurdish, Kashmiri, West Sumatran, West Papuan, Achenese, Sri Lankan Tamils,
Tibetans, Roma and Travellers, the non-independent territories of the Americas, such
as Puerto Rico, Martinique and Guadalupe, calling on the United Nations to devise
mechanisms and procedures that enable the affirmation of that right, and in particular
to respect UN Security Council Resolution 1359/2001 of June 29, 2001 on Western
Sahara.
22. Acknowledging 50 years of ethnic conflict in Sir Lanka which has resulted in death,
disappearances, rape, torture and destruction and affirming the right to self
determination of the Tamil minority.
23. Recognizing that certain cultural groups with a distinct identity such as Sikhs, Mohajirs,
Sindhis, Balochs face barriers on a complex interplay of racial, ethnic, religious and
cultural factors
24. Recognizing that globalization is a historically uneven process based on colonial and
imperialist integration of the world economy and on maintaining and deepening unequal
power relations between countries and regions of the world that exacerbates, global
inequalities and conditions of poverty and social exclusion
25. Deeply concerned that current forms of globalization and policies of international
financial and trade institutions as well as the activities of transnational corporations
prevent the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights of all peoples,
maintain and deepen the social exclusion of groups that are most marginalized and
heighten tension and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance.
26. Recognizing that in the context of globalization, discriminatory labour practices
experienced by men and women, youth and children and people with disablilities and
documented and undocumented migrants groups who are already marginalized by
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance which makes them
vulnerable to increased exploitation, poverty, and social exclusion
27. Recognizing the rights of all victims of slavery racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance to reparations of all forms
28. Recognizing environmental racism as a form of racial discrimination which refers to
exploitation and depletion of natural resources and any environmental policy, practice,
action or inaction that intentionally or unintentionally, disproportionately harms the
health, eco systems, and livelihood of nations, communities, groups, or individuals, and
in particular the poor.
29. Acknowledging that situations of armed conflict are often generated by racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances and that such conflicts in turn
perpetuate racism and related forms of discrimination, emphasise that war crimes must
urgently be prosecuted at the national level notwithstanding the establishment of the
International Criminal Court.
30. Noting also with concern that armed conflicts create an environment conducive to
heightened militarization, violence against women, young people and children in
particular the girl child, and persons with disabilities, which result in situations of
sexual slavery, rape and forced pregnancies. The proliferation and prevalence of
armed conflict throughout the world, particularly in Africa where three quarters of the
continent is currently experiencing a state of war or some form of armed conflict, is
leading to the large-scale displacement of persons, massive outflows of refugees and
internally displaced persons and increasing militarization of millions of children and
young people and demand the granting of effective protection to these groups and
respect for international humanitarian law.
31. Denouncing the direct role played by certain transnational corporations and
governments which lead to an increasing militarization and nuclearization on a global
scale and in particular concerned about trafficking and trading in arms, the proliferation
of the arms and armaments industries, the production of destructive weapons including
landmines and small arms at the cost of spending on social infrastructure, all of which
violated the humanitarian laws of war and contribute to the perpetuation of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and consequences thereof.
32. Recognizing the suffering experienced by many people as a result of the use of
weapons of war including weapons of mass destruction, small arms, land mines against
civilians
33. Acknowledging the violations of the human rights of the people of Vieques, Puerto
Rico because of the actions of the US Navy, we demand an end to these military
practices and return of occupied land to the people of Puerto Rico and payment of
reparation to the victims
34. Condemning the US blockade of Cuba as a violation of the sovereignty of the Cuban
people which results in gross violations of their human rights.
35. Denouncing strategies of some international agreements and international
cooperation, such as the Andean Initiative and the Free Trade Area of the Americas
project, as well as the Plan Colombia, which, under the guise of carrying out a war
against drugs promotes large-scale internal displacement, accelerates dispossession
and aggression against the Indigenous, Afro-descendants and peasant communities,
leading to the denial of human rights including the right to self-determination, causing
environmental degradation and the growth of militarization in the region
36. Recognizing that the persistence of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance affirms the need for an inter-sectional analysis of discrimination
which would address forms of multiple discrimination.
37. Noting
that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance create
serious obstacles to the full enjoyment of human rights and result in aggravated
discrimination against communities who already face discrimination on the basis
of class, colour, sex, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity,
language, nationality, ethnicity, culture, religion or caste, descent, work,
socio-economic status or origin, health, including HIV/AIDS status, or any other
status.
38. Recognizing homophobia
as a particular form of discrimination and a form of multiple
discrimination that makes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons even
more vulnerable to all forms of violence including hate crimes and racialised
violence.
39. Affirming that multiple forms
of discrimination against women limit or negate women's potential for the full
enjoyment and exercise of their human rights and fundamental freedoms in all
spheres of life, that patriarchal social structures reinforce all forms of discrimination
against women particularly those with disabilities, and that racism also creates
other forms of patriarchal subordination of women.
40. Gravely concerned, that racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance adversely affect the full
realisation of rights of the rights of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable
standard of physical and mental health,
41. Recognising that people infected with or presumed to be infected with HIV/AIDS suffer
serious forms of discrimination and exploitation., exacerbated by the WTO regulations
which deny access to affordable treatments.
42. Recognising the important role played by young people in the preparation and the
follow up of the WCAR and in adopting the Plan of Action submitted at the Youth
Summit of the WCAR , acknowledge that young people are affected by multiple forms
of discrimination which limit the full realisation of human rights, resulting in denial of
their right to self-determination thus limiting their full and active political, economic, and
social participation.
43. Recognizing that the slave trade, slavery and colonialism as crimes against humanity
reinforced by apartheid and other policies of racial segregation and that the failure and
refusal to acknowledge and make reparations for these crimes against humanity have
played a critical role in entrenching racism, racial discrimination, anti-black hostilities,
xenophobia and related intolerance. Consequently, African and African descendants
are prime victims of deep seated racist and prejudicial practices which are manifest in
current day exclusion and marginalization which they face in the African Diaspora and
in Africa, which has paid and continues to pay a heavy price for this.
44. Recognizing that Asians and Asian Descendants including ethnic and religious
minorities in Asian countries have experienced and continue to experience specific
forms of racism and xenophobia from the legacy of slavery, colonialism, Apartheid,
indentured servitude, internment, and exclusionary migration laws.
45. Concerned about increasing antisemitism which leads to violence and hate crimes
against Jewish people in particular and passivity of governments in many countries with
regard to prosecuting perpetrators of criminal hate acts.
46. Concerned that Anti-Arab racism is another form of anti-semitism and Islamaphobia
that have led to violence and hate crimes.
47. Denouncing the pervasive nature of hate crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide and
other crimes against humanity including wars committed against members of
communities that face colonialism, racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance and those who advocate for social change and self-determination
48. Affirming that members of far too many minority communities, including national,
ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities are collectively and individually subject to all
forms of racism and institutionalized discrimination including denial of citizenship,
exclusion from political participation, denial of access to resources and a dignified
standard of living, political repression and genocidal practices because some nation-state structures that are majoritarian deny the rights of minority communities including
the right of self-determination.
49. Recognizing that the Chechen people
still suffer large-scale violations of human rights and international humanitarian
standards we stress that military operations in Chechnya are accompanied by
a wide-scale hate campaign towards the Chechens, which in particular results
in mass persecution and discrimination against people originating from the region
of the Caucasus when they travel or reside outside their region.
50. Acknowledging that the Roma, who are a non-territorial nation, dispersed in a
worldwide diaspora are denied their right to a cultural identity, are disadvantaged and
experience discrimination, persecution, stigmatization, and violence on the basis of
their social origin and identity.
51. Recognizing
that Travelers experience comparable levels of racism and oppression to Roma
throughout the world and in particular to the denial of their social, cultural,
political and economic rights.
52. Recognizing that the caste system discriminates against and enables segregation of
communities on the basis of work and descent, such as Dalits in South Asia, the
Buraku people of Japan, the Osu and Oru people of Nigeria and the Griots of Senegal
and other communities resulting in flagrant violations of human rights and dignity, with
women and children of these communities being particularly vulnerable to barbaric
forms of violence.
53. Deploring the lack of policies and programs that effectively address the inter-sectionality of the multiple forms of discrimination particularly faced by people with
disabilities.
54. Noting with deep concern that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance against documented and undocumented migrants, migrant workers and
members of their families, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless and displaced persons
is structural and systematic in character, is reflected in discriminatory legislation,
policies and social and corporate practices, and manifest in both subtle and overt acts
of hostility and violence against specific groups on the basis of differences in language,
customs, religions, culture language, origin, customs and position in international power
relations
55. Recognizing that xenophobia is a particular form of discrimination and intolerance
which describes prejudices, practices, attitudes and behaviour that oppresses and
rejects, excludes and vilifies persons who are already discriminated against because
they are, or are presumed to be, foreigners or people of different ethnic, religious,
linguistic or cultural background.
56. Gravely concerned about the failure of states to protect the rights of all those living
within their borders especially in the face of increasing xenophobic acts against
migrants, migrant workers and members of their family, refugees, asylum seekers,
trafficked, stateless and internally displaced persons and in particular concerned about
oppressive and restrictive immigration policies, the criminalization, stigmatisation,
targeting and victimisation of these groups.
57. Noting with concern the increasing numbers of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless
and internally displaced persons, including those displaced by economic processes and
developmental projects most of whom are women and children, whose rights are not
fully and appropriately protected by the relevant international, regional and sub-regional
legal instruments or national legislation, and who consequently are more vulnerable to
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the receiving
regions and countries
58. Recognizing that trafficking in persons as a contemporary form of slavery based on
patriarchal notions of sexuality and exacerbated by economic inequalities which
primarily affects women and children of poor and marginalized communities and which
takes place within and across many countries across the world including in Mauritania,
Sudan, Cameroon and Niger.
59. Recognizing the need to give special consideration to the concerns and needs of
victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance including
women, children, young people, persons with disabilities, people of African descent,
Indigenous Peoples, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, disabled
persons, the impoverished, and persons living in situations or countries in conflict, who
are discriminated against by the criminal justice system, as well as to the incarceration
and withholding of legal rights and services to asylum seekers and refugees.
60. Recognizing
that victims of slavery, genocide, racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia
and related intolerance have the right to effective civil remedies and criminal
sanctions against government agencies , corporate institutions and their employees
We also recognize that these victims, for victims have been disparately and
, disproportionately targeted, prosecuted and sentenced due to their race, caste,
nationality, ethnic background, religious beliefs or other differences.
61. Drawing
inspiration from the slogan of the WCAR, 'UNITED TO COMBAT RACISM: EQUALITY,
JUSTICE AND DIGNITY' and hopeful that the World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance will affirm the commitment
of the United Nations to developing practical, action oriented measures and
strategies to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
62. Convinced that the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance will be an important occasion for healing,
reconciliation and emancipation of the victims of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance, and encouraged by the growing universal
movement driven by civil society committed for the creation of a world free from racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances.
AFRICANS
AND AFRICAN DESCENDANTS
63. Africans and African Descendants share a common
history shaped by the slave trade, slavery, conquest, colonisation and apartheid,
all of which constitute crimes against humanity, and a common experience of
anti-Black racism. We acknowledge that people of African descent live all over
the world, although in many instances they have been renamed, suppressed and
marginalized. On every continent African and African Descendants continue to
suffer from racism, discrimination, doctrines and practices of racial supremacy,
hate violence and related intolerance. It is the complexity and intersection
of these historical and continuing common roots, experiences and struggles to
overcome them, that bind Africans and African Descendants together as a world
community.
64. We affirm that
the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the enslavement of Africans and African Descendants
was a crime against humanity and a unique tragedy in the history of humanity,
and that its roots and bases were economic, institutional, systemic and transnational
in dimension.
65. We further acknowledge
the negative impact of the Trans-Saharan and Trans-Indian Ocean Slave Trade
and slavery.
66. We recognise that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and slavery, which constitute crimes
against humanity, forced the brutal removal and the largest forced migration in history
(over one hundred million), caused the death of millions of Africans, destroyed African
civilizations, impoverished African economies and formed the basis for Africa's under-development and marginalization which continues to this date. We acknowledge that
Africa was dismembered and divided among European powers, which created Western
monopolies for the continued exploitation of African natural resources for the benefit
of Western economies and industries.
67. We recognise also that part of the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade continues unabated to
this day, despite international agreements that condemn slavery, and that the trafficking
of African men, women and children for forced labour and enslavement is still ongoing
in Cameroon, Mauritania, Niger and Sudan whilst these and other forms of involuntary
servitude of Africans and African Descendants have resulted in substantial and lasting
economic, political and cultural damage to the continent. This form of exploitation is
particularly damaging to African and African Descendant women, who are still victims
of sexual trafficking and sexual exploitation.
68. We condemn the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, slavery and colonization as crimes
against humanity. Whereas Western economic institutions criminally exploited Africans
and their descendants, used criminally transported people of Africa as chattel and
continued to breed Africans as chattel. Post-slavery African Descendants have endured
official and de facto segregative policies of governments, affecting political, economic,
educational, cultural and social rights, causing and legitimising theft of land and racial
violence. African Descendants have suffered the loss of their culture, identities, and
languages and have been victimised by the perpetuation of negative stereotypes,
psychological damage, racial discrimination, economic disadvantage and the
criminalisation of their peoples. These conditions have uniquely impacted African and
African Descendant women whose bodies, familial roles and reproductive ability have
been used as a tool of oppression and exploited for the production of economic wealth
and whose forced labour under inhumane circumstances and the use of specific
negative stereotypes all have been and continue to be used to maintain the subordinate
position of African and African Descendant women at the bottom of the social,
economic, cultural and political system.
69. We recognise that the development of Africa has been greatly impeded by the global
imbalances in power created by the slave trade, slavery and colonialism as crimes
against humanity and other forms of exploitation and is maintained and extended
particularly by neo-colonial economic policies and practices including the pillage of
human and material resources of Africa and the draining of its financial resources by
foreign debt services. The legacy of these abhorrent crimes is manifested in wars,
displacements and the precarious socio-economic situation in which Africans find
themselves.
SLAVE TRADE AND
SLAVERY
70. Recognising
that the Trans-Atlantic, Trans-Saharan and Trans-Indian Ocean slave trade and
slavery constitute crimes against humanity and were based on economic exploitation,
doctrines of racial supremacy and racial hatred and have subjected Africans
and African descendants, Indigenous Peoples and many others to the most horrific
denigration of their being including classification as sub-humans and chattel,
subjugation to rape, forced labour, branding, lashings, murder, maiming, destruction
of their languages, cultures, psychological and spiritual well-being resulting
in structural subordination which continues to the present.
REPARATIONS
71. Slave-holder nations, colonizers and occupying countries have unjustly enriched
themselves at the expense of those people that they enslaved and colonized and
whose land they have occupied. As these nations largely owe their political, economic
and social domination to the exploitation of Africa, Africans and Africans in the Diaspora
they should recognize their obligation to provide these victims just and equitable
reparations.
72. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, slavery and colonialism is a crime against humanity
because of its abhorrent barbarism, its magnitude, long duration, numbers of people
brutalized and murdered and because of their negation of the very essence of humanity
of their victims, therefore, reparations programs must be comprehensive enough in
addressing all areas of concern including economic, educational, health, land
ownership and possession as well as the racially biased systems of administration of
justice that brutalize Africans and people of African Descent.
73. The Trans-Saharan and Trans-Indian Ocean Slave Trades and slavery must also be
acknowledged and recognised as crimes against humanity, which brutalised
communities and stripped people of their dignity, and for which those communities must
receive justice and redress.
74. There is an unbroken chain from the slave trade, slavery, colonialism, foreign
occupation, apartheid, racial discrimination and the contemporary forms of structural
racism that maintain barriers to the full and equal participation of the victims of racism
and discrimination in all spheres of public life;
75. The enslavement of Indigenous Peoples, the appropriation of their lands and
exploitation of their resources must be acknowledged and repaired and the historic
precedents for reparations to the victims of gross violations of human rights should be
applied to them;
76. Victims of declared and undeclared wars throughout the world have had their human
rights violated because of their race, ethnicity and the intersection of race, ethnicity and
gender and disability and are in need of reparation;
ANTISEMITISM
77. Antisemitism is one of the oldest, most pernicious and prevalent forms of racism which
still exists and is even increasing in many areas of the world; recognizing the
dehumanization, persecution and genocide of Jews in the Holocaust, as well as other
minorities during and before World War II; deeply alarmed by the continued activities
of proponents of Holocaust denial and Holocaust revisionism, Holocaust trivialization,
Holocaust minimization and by the channelling of racist rhetoric and calls to violence
on the Internet; noting with distress that Jewish people still suffer from persisting
prejudices and are victims of a deeply rooted antisemitism in many countries
throughout the world; distressed by the recent desecration of many Jewish cemeteries,
synagogues, and Jewish communal buildings and other property, as well as an
increase in harassment and assaults of Jewish people worldwide; convinced of the
necessity of more effective measures to address the issue of antisemitism worldwide
today in order to counter these phenomena and increase awareness about them.
78. Antisemitism remains a pervasive and ingrained form of religious discrimination and
Jewish people are increasingly a racialized minority; recognizing that Jewish
populations and institutions continue to be targets of threats and acts of violence in
countries around the world, and documented overt acts of antisemitic harassment and
vandalism are on the rise; alarmed that extremist groups are proliferating at an alarming
rate and propagating antisemitic and racist views and hate propaganda, increasingly
on the Internet; deeply troubled by the electoral successes of far right parties, with an
increasing presence in coalition governments; profoundly concerned that in many
countries in the world, Jewish people live in fear, frequently terrorized by extremist
groups, and discriminated against in employment, education, in the media and social
services. ,
ARAB AND MIDDLE EAST
79. Arabs as a Semitic people have also suffered from alternative
forms of anti semitism, manifesting itself as anti Arab discrimination and for
those Arabs who are Muslim, also as Islamophobia.
ASIANS AND ASIAN DESCENDANTS
80. Asians and Asian Descendants face deep-seated racism and xenophobia, lack access
to political, economic and social opportunities, are denied civil rights and liberties, and
are victims of especially violent hate crimes, racial profiling, discriminatory employment
and unjust immigration policies and practices. In some cases communities such as
Sikhs and others with distinct identities composed of a complex interplay of racial,
ethnic, religious and cultural factors face institutional discrimination due to the fact that
they do not fit into traditional notions of race and ethnicity.
81. We note with concern that despite the contributions they have made to the countries
where they live, and regardless of their long history of residence in these countries,
Asians and Asian descendants continue to face distortion or omissions of their role in
history in school texts and the media, and are viewed as inassimilable foreigners,
security risks, spies and terrorists.
82. We are concerned that Diasporic Asian descendants are often criminalized and used
as scapegoats for social and economic problems and international conflicts, and are
subject to laws and practices that overtly and systematically discriminate against them.
83. We note with concern that Asian and Asian Descendant women in particular suffer
many of the negative effects of globalization and of the intersection of sexism, racism
and poverty, for example as manifested in the portrayal of Asian women as submissive
and exotic sexual objects in the media as well as in traditional and historical negative
attitudes that make them vulnerable to trafficking for prostitution as mail order brides,
domestic workers, low wage or sweat shop workers, and as bonded labour.
CASTE AND DISCRIMINATION BASED ON WORK AND DESCENT
84. Work and descent based discrimination, including caste discrimination and
untouchability, being a historically entrenched, false ideological construct sanctioned
by religion and culture, which is hereditary in nature and affects over 300 million people
in the Asia Pacific and African regions at the personal, social and structural levels,
irrespective of their religious affiliation.
85. The practice of untouchability, rooted in the caste system, stigmatises 260 million Dalits
in South Asia as 'polluted' or 'impure', thereby denying them entry into places of
religious worship, participation in religious festivals, assigning them menial and
degrading work including cleaning toilets, skinning and disposal of dead animals,
digging graves and sweeping, and the forced prostitution of Dalit women and girls
through the traditional system of temple prostitution (Devadasi).
86. The system of 'Hidden apartheid' based on caste practices of distinction, exclusion and
restrictions denies Dalits' enjoyment of their economic, social, political, cultural and
religious rights, exposing them to all forms of violence and manifests itself in the
segregation of housing settlements and cemeteries, segregation in tea stalls ('two-cup'
system), denial of access to common drinking water, restaurants, places of worship,
restrictions on marriage and other insidious measures all of which inhibit their
development as equals.
87. Caste discrimination and 'untouchability' practised against generations of Dalits for
centuries together amounts to systemic 'generational and cultural Daliticide', which is
the mass-scale destruction of their individual and collective identity, dignity and self-respect for generations through cultural methods and practices.
88.
Any action or even any sign of an attempt to act by Dalits either individually
or collectively to assert their rights is met with extreme measures of violence
such as burning or destruction of their homes, property and crops, social boycott,
rape or gang rape of Dalit women and murder by dominant caste individuals or
groups, police or the bureaucracy, and that in such instances the State often
acts with impunity and in connivance with these perpetrators.
89. Work and
descent based discrimination against the Buraku people of Japan has existed
for over 400 years and continues to be experienced today by over 3 million people
in relation to marriage, employment and education, with new forms of discrimination
emerging such as discriminatory propaganda and incitement to discrimination
against them, especially on the Internet.
90. The vulnerability of the victims of work and descent based discrimination, including
caste discrimination and untouchability, is aggravated by legal systems and law
enforcement machinery that fail to protect them and hence are responsible for the
continued perpetuation of discrimination, and by States that are themselves often the
law-breakers.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND JUDICIAL
SYSTEMS
91. We recognize
the obligations of governments to remove or amend in accordance with the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination all forms of legislation,
policies or practices that have the purpose or effect of discriminating against
any person on the basis of race, religion, nationality, language, caste, ethnicity,
or minority or refugee status, through the full integration of international
instruments relevant to racism into national laws, regulations and administrative
practices, and the identification and elimination at the national and local
level of institutionalized racism existing in the policies, procedures, practices
and culture of public or private criminal justice institutions.
92. We recognize
the value and importance of the binding General Recommendations issued by CERD
that CERD consider issuing a separate General Recommendation interpreting racial
discrimination as constituting "degrading treatment" within the meaning of article
3 of European Charter of Human Rights as interpreted by the European Court of
Human Rights.
93. We recognize
the need to give special consideration to the concerns and needs of women, young
people, persons of African descent, Indigenous Peoples, lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgendered persons, disabled persons, the impoverished, and persons living
in situations or countries of conflict, who are affected by the criminal justice
system, as well as to the incarceration and withholding of legal rights and
services to asylum seekers and refugees.
94. We recognize the obligation to have effective remedies, including remedies against
government agencies and officers, for victims of racial and other forms of discrimination
who have been disparately impacted upon, disproportionately targeted, prosecuted and
sentenced due to their race, nationality, ethnic background, religious beliefs or other
differences.
COLONIALISM
AND FOREIGN OCCUPATION
95. Colonialism represents one of the most serious violations of national sovereignty of
states and breach of international law, and in almost all colonial territories serious
crimes against humanity were committed by colonial powers.
96. Foreign occupation creates an environment in which the occupied people are exposed
to a wide range of systemic and gross violations of human rights and freedoms,
including dispossession, displacement and denial of their right to self determination and
women of occupied territories are subjected to rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy
and other forms of violence against women.
97. Acknowledging that a foreign occupation which imposes an alien domination and
subjugation with the denial of territorial integrity amounts to colonialism (according to
the principles of the 'Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries
and Peoples' of the UN General Assembly 1960) and denies the fundamental rights of
self determination, independence and freedom of the people under occupation. It also
creates an environment in which the occupied people are exposed to a wide range of
systematic and gross violations of human rights and freedom. We extend our solidarity
to the struggles for self - determination for people of Palestine, West Sumatra, Aceh-Sumatra, Bougainville, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, North Cyprus,
and other states and indigenous communities including the Kurdish people, the
indigenous people in the north east of India and in the north east of Sri Lanka, in Tibet,
Kashmir, Bhutan, Mindanao and the non independent countries of the Caribbean, like
Puerto Rico and recognize the situation of other people living under foreign occupation
in different parts of the world.
98. Recognizing further that the Palestinian people are one such people currently enduring
a colonialist, discriminatory military occupation that violates their fundamental human
right of self-determination including the illegal transfer of Israeli citizens into the
occupied territories and establishment of a permanent illegal Israeli infrastructure; and
other racist methods amounting to Israel's brand of apartheid and other racist crimes
against humanity. Recognizing therefore that the Palestinian people have the clear right
under international law to resist such occupation by any means provided under
international law until they achieve their fundamental human right to self-determination
and end the Israeli racist system including its own brand of apartheid.
99. Recognizing further that a basic "root cause" of Israel's on going and systematic human
rights violations, including its grave breaches of the fourth Geneva convention 1949 (i.e.
war crimes), acts of genocide and practices of ethnic cleansing is a racist system, which
is Israel's brand of apartheid. One aspect of this Israeli racist system has been a
continued refusal to allow the Palestinian refugees to exercise their right as guaranteed
by international law to return to their homes of origin. Related to the right of return, the
Palestinian refugees also have a clear right under international law to receive restitution
of their properties and full compensation. Furthermore, international law provides that
those Palestinian refugees choosing not to return are entitled to receive full
compensation for all their losses. Israel's refusal to grant Palestinian refugees their right
of return and other gross human rights and humanitarian law violations has destabilized
the entire region and has impacted on world peace and security.
100. We are appalled at the situation of thirty million Kurdish people scattered in several
countries including Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, who are oppressively prevented from
exercising their national legitimate rights of self determination. We deplore the policies
of genocide and practices of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds. We strongly condemn
all forms of discrimination against the Kurds, such as confiscation of their lands,
deportation and displacement of population, destruction of their culture, denial of their
civil rights as well as their cultural and political rights.
101. We recognise
the situation of 6 million Tibetan people suffering under 50 years of the occupation
of their country who continue to suffer institutionalized forms of racial discrimination
under the Chinese occupation, and condemn actions of the Chinese government
that continues to exploit, explore and extract the rich minerals resources of
Tibet, causing irreversible damage to the fragile eco-system on the Tibetan
plateau.
102. We note
with great concern the implementation of government policies of population transfer
of millions of Chinese settlers into Tibet and the carrying out of coercive
birth control practices against Tibetan women, which contributes to heighten
discrimination against Tibetan people.
103. The monocultural and hegemonic practices of the Chinese government, through the
school system and through other state institutions has caused forced integration and
assimilation and deprived the Tibetan people of their human rights.
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
104. Persons with disabilities are vulnerable or affected by multiple and intersectional
discrimination based on race, ethnic origin, gender, age and other grounds and are
victims of governmental and societal neglect.
105. A growing number of persons with disabilities are also
victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,
especially in situations of conflict and when victimised by religious persecution
and other forms of intolerance.
106. In particular, persons with disabilities experience grave discrimination in having
access to health, education, employment, sports, accommodation as well as access
to public transport and buildings, and access to language, in situations when sign
language and other forms of communication are not available, especially with regard
to their reproductive rights and access to health education.
107. Exclusion and non-consideration of disability in the allocation of resources in
particular basic essentials, assistive devices and other basic technology and
communication devices is another key form of discrimination against persons with
disabilities.
EDUCATION
108. Education is critically important in combating and
preventing prejudice as well as the protection of individual human rights and
specifically with regard to Indigenous Peoples, Dalits and minority and vulnerable
groups and further recalling that many State parties have not yet implemented
ICERD article 7.
109. Bearing
in mind that education is a primary function of understanding human rights and
freedoms, we deplore the fact that some educational systems are used as tools
for advancing racist, sexist, casteist and supremacists ideologies and in doing
so employ texts, documents and other tools of learning that convey pejorative
images through omission of facts of past and present realities of Africans,
Indigenous Peoples, Asians, Dalits, and their descendants and members of other
minority and marginalized communities.
110. Considering that schools and other centers of learning play a critical role in shaping
future generations, we recognise that current efforts in schools and other centers of
learning to combat racism, including challenging racist and sexist language, pejorative
images are woefully inadequate.
111. We also note with concern the lack of school curricula that meets international
standards, recognizing the value of having a school curricula that is devoid of
discriminatory content and that teaches the principles of equality, dignity, human rights
and fundamental freedoms, adopting a holistic approach that includes a balance
between a science and technology-based approach and an indigenous knowledge and
philosophy based approach.
112. We recognize the historical, financial and other institutional barriers faced by
Africans, Indigenous Peoples, Asians and their descendants and members of other
minority and marginalized communities when they seek to access institutions of higher
learning and particularly women and girls of disadvantaged and vulnerable
communities.
ETHNIC AND NATIONAL MINORITIES AND GROUPS
113. Members of many national, ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic groups including
on the basis of their being considered a minority are subjected, collectively and
individually, to all forms of racism including denial of citizenship, exclusion from political
participation, social and economic resources of the state, as well as genocide practices.
We acknowledge that internal passport and residence permit system represent a policy
leading to discrimination and expulsion of ethnic minorities and groups in many regions,
in particular, in countries in transition. The ways in which nation- or ethnic-state
structures strengthen majority rule is a main factor in such exclusion.
114. The enjoyment of rights based on principles of human dignity and liberty has been
a historical challenge, particularly for people who became national minorities in their
homeland through processes of colonization and dispossession of their land. These
processes have led to the denial of the right of minorities and groups to sovereignty and
self-determination and have placed limitations on the right of women to transmit their
nationality to their children, on an equal basis with men.
115. We assert that minorities and groups are entitled to affirm their right to self
determination which includes, inter alia, the recognition of their history, national
memory, historical land claims, language rights, cultural rights, religious rights as well
as the right to share political power.
116. Affirmative action, through the use of temporary measures is a method of redressing
historical injustices and has often been used to advance the cause of minority
communities. Regrettably, however, it has sometimes been used by states to promote
majoritarian ethno-nationalism, as in Malaysia and in Sri Lanka.
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
117. Environmental racism is a human rights violation and is a form of discrimination
caused by government and private sector policy, practice, action or inaction which
intentionally or unintentionally, disproportionately targets and harms the environment,
health, biodiversity, local economy, quality of life and security of communities, workers,
groups, and individuals based on race, class, color, gender, caste, ethnicity and/or
national origin.
118. We condemn the abuse of all forms of power, greed, and exclusion of victims of
environmental racism from decision-making, unequal enforcement, non-existent or
ineffective environmental laws and regulations, manipulation of media and language
barriers to perpetuate and conceal the environmental harms to human health,
displacement of people, depletion of natural resources, and the degradation of
biodiversity all of which are manifestations of environmental racism targeting
Indigenous Peoples, Africans and African descendants, Asians and Asian descendants,
Middle Eastern Peoples, Pacific Islanders, Latinos, Caribbean Peoples, ethnic and
national minorities and groups, and other social groups most vulnerable to practices of
unsustainable development and militarization, especially children, women, the elderly,
displaced, immuno-suppressed, as well as low and no income people.
GENDER
119. An intersectional approach to discrimination acknowledges that every person be it
man or woman exists in a framework of multiple identities, with factors such as race,
class, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, citizenship,
national identity, geo-political context, health, including HIV/AIDS status and any other
status are all determinants in one's experiences of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerances. An intersectional approach highlights the way in
which there is a simultaneous interaction of discrimination as a result of multiple
identities.
GLOBALISATION
120. Globalisation including structural
adjustment policies, privatisation, trade liberalisation and unequal terms of
trade create new and exacerbate already existing conditions of exclusion of
all individuals and communities, particularly women, who are the victims of
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
121. We denounce processes of globalisation that concentrate power in the hands of
powerful Western nations and multinational corporations, and that has an impact on
every aspect of social life in every country and region, as racist and unjust. It widens
economic inequalities within and between countries, further impoverishing and
marginalizing masses of peoples, and places them at risk to the demand for cheap and
informal labour in labour-importing countries. Tools of globalisation such as structural
adjustment policies result in poverty, famine and the collapse of health and educational
systems. Globalisation leads to economic and social disintegration, unemployment and
marginalisation. It particularly implies both feminisation and racialisation of poverty.
Compensatory measures must be extended in this context.
122. The processes of social exclusion that accompany globalisation create situations
of polarisation that result in the disintegration of local communities and countries,
sometimes leading to an increase in organised crime and ethnic conflicts.
123. Globalisation is the continuation of colonial and imperial control. It is inherently
racist and anti-democratic, and creates a network of laws and policies that unevenly
integrate the world through markets, trade, transnational corporations and information
and communication technology.
124. The wealth and the power of globalisation is concentrated in the global capitalist
class and is inherently linked to racism and casteism, including environmental racism,
and leading to many different forms of violence, militarisation and nuclearisation of
countries and cities. The UN itself is shaped by the same powers that control the
process of globalisation.
125. New commodities, information and communication technologies that are apart
ofglobalisation process increase the gap among "have" and "have nots", creating a free
market for capitals and goods but restricting the movement of labour.
HATE CRIMES
126. Members of marginalized and minority communities are targeted for hate crimes
including burning of places of worship and religious symbols, sexual violence,
desecration of places of worship, cemeteries and other sacred places. Violence against
the leaders of such communities is of particular concern.
127. Hate crimes target individuals because of their identity and decimate lives and
communities, stigmatizing individuals and communities, robbing people of personal
security, promoting fear, constraining lifestyles and participation in all aspects of
society, causing psychological and physical harm, repressing and silencing demands
for justice and self-determination, undermining peace and democracy, and reinforcing
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Women are
particularly vulnerable to some forms of hate crimes, especially sexual violence.
128. Many peoples and members of marginalized and minority communities are
subjected to hate crimes and/or ethnic cleansing as they attempt to exercise their right
to self-determination, including the Kurdish, Chechen, Tibetan, Acehnese and West
Papuan people, and Indigenous Peoples.
129. Hate crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide include violence and murder, rape and
other sexual violence, racist propaganda, incitements to violence, race riots,
massacres, disappearances of members of communities advocating for social change
and self determination and is perpetuated by organized hate groups, military, police,
religious entities, governments, and individuals.
130. Ideological genocide has been committed against people in Indonesia in 1965-1966
resulting in the death, disappearance and torture of over 1 million suspected
communists. None of the perpetrators or masterminds of this crime against humanity
have been brought to justice. As a result, the xenophobic suppression of those
expressing left-wing ideology continues to this day in Indonesia.
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS
131. Disadvantaged racial, ethnic and cultural vulnerable groups, Indigenous Peoples,
migrants, people discriminated against based on caste, asylum seekers, refugees and
internally displaced people, especially women, youth, children and people with
disabilities face multiple forms of discrimination that result in poor health status, less
access to affordable and good health care and lower quality of health services. In
particular this has contributed to high rate of maternal mortality amongst women of
these groups.
132. We condemn the failure of governments, nongovernmental organizations and the
private sector to respond aggressively to the AIDS pandemic which is exacerbated by
international racism and reinforced by poverty, discrimination against women and poor
health services.
133. Gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disabilities in conjunction with race
are often the basis for denial of access to quality, comprehensive, sensible cultural
health care, including access to sexual and reproductive heath services.
134. We condemn the unscrupulous practices of the tobacco, alcohol, drug and gun
industries in their targeting of disadvantaged communities, particularly the promoting
and encouraging of smoking in developing countries.
135. Governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and the
international community should ensure that health care providers/practitioners are
trained to provide culturally appropriate care; and that members of African and African
Descendant communities, indigenous communities and other vulnerable groups are
adequately represented as health care providers. In order to assure cultural appropriate
care, governments must permit and promote traditional health practices in coordination
with traditional healers.
136. Governments and the international community should assure that the health care
system is adequately funded, sustainable and effectively monitored; that the sources
of funding for health care comes not only from the national government but also from
the international community including cancellation of illegitimate debt and decreased
military spending.
137. Lack of routine and systematic research on disparities in physical and mental health
and inadequate collection of data on the basis of race, gender and socio-economic
factors related to health status and health care of vulnerable groups and access to
quality health care heighten difficulties in addressing the experiences of racism, social
exclusion, and other forms of discrimination in health.
138. We deplore the attitudes and practices of certain international pharmaceutical
companies as well as the indifference on the part of the international community that
are contributing to the additional prevalence of this genocidal virus, particularly in so far
as it affects the African continent and other countries in the developing world
exacerbated by conditions of poverty and inequality.
139. Women are at higher risk for HIV infection because of the epidemic of sexual
violence against them. Combating HIV/AIDS requires, among other things, that States
eliminate legal and practical discrimination against women and girls and prevent,
investigate, and punish acts of violence and discrimination against women.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
140.
Indigenous Peoples live in every region of the world, including the Arctic,
Africa, Russia, the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Pacific amongst
other areas, and everywhere they suffer gross discrimination and marginalization.
The belief in the inferiority of Indigenous Peoples, in addition to the lack
of consultation on matters that effect them, remains deeply embedded in the
legal, economic and social fabric of many States and has resulted in the dispossession
and destruction of Indigenous territories and resources, political, religious
and social systems.
141.
Indigenous Peoples continue to suffer the loss of their territories and resources,
the destruction of their cultures, and violence directed at their peoples. Indigenous
women and children, in particular, endure multiple forms of discrimination.
This dispossession, violence and discrimination constitute flagrant violations
of our human rights in contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
142. Indigenous Peoples are peoples within the full meaning of international law.
Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-determination by virtue of which they freely
determine their economic, social, political and cultural development and the inherent
right to possession of all of their traditional and ancestral lands and territories. The
knowledge and cultures of Indigenous Peoples cannot be separated from their unique
spiritual and physical relationships with their lands, waters, resources and territories.
The denial or qualification of the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples is racist and
lies at the root of Indigenous suffering. Structural racism in past and current
manifestations of colonialism, invasion, apartheid, ethnocide and genocide has denied,
and continues to deny Indigenous Peoples their fundamental right to self-determination.
143. Racism against Indigenous Peoples manifests itself in discriminatory laws and
policies that perpetuate and exacerbate racism against Indigenous Peoples. These
laws and policies include the denial of the status of Indigenous Peoples with the right
to self determination under international law, the militarization of indigenous lands and
territories, doctrines that allow Indigenous territories to be taken without due process
of law or adequate compensation, the unilateral extinguishment of indigenous land
rights, the doctrine of plenary power, discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the
civil and criminal justice systems of States, failure to recognise the justice systems of
Indigenous Peoples, the lack of equal participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making processes in matters that may affect their cultural, spiritual or physical integrity,
the lack of respect for treaties, agreements and laws between Indigenous Peoples and
States with no legal resource for Indigenous Peoples, the denial of protection of the
religious freedom for Indigenous prisoners, the disproportionate incarceration of
Indigenous Peoples, policies that deny, suppress or destroy Indigenous languages,
and the presumption that Indigenous Peoples do not own subsoil resources under their
lands.
144. Racism against Indigenous Peoples also manifests itself in many forms, including:
forced and covert displacement; forced assimilation; forced removal of indigenous
children from their communities; economic policies which exploit Indigenous resources
without Indigenous consent and without returning any benefit to Indigenous
communities; the use of sexual violence against Indigenous women as a weapon of
war; misinformation and lack of reproductive information, imposition of dangerous
contraceptives on Indigenous girls and women, and forced sterilisation of Indigenous
girls and women; the appropriation of Indigenous intellectual and cultural property,
including genetic property , and the use of the images of Indigenous peoples and
individuals without their consent.
145. Religious Intolerance towards Indigenous spiritual practices and the profaning of
indigenous sacred sites and objects has been a fundamental instrument in the
subjugation of Indigenous Peoples since the invasion and the beginning of colonialism,
and is a persistent evil that States must take action to end.
146. Environmental racism -- an historical form of racial discrimination -- has led to and
continues to lead to the ruination of indigenous lands, waters and environments by the
implementation of unsustainable schemes, such as mining, biopiracy, deforestation, the
dumping of contaminated waste, oil and gas drilling and other land use practices that
do not respect indigenous ceremonies, spiritual beliefs, traditional medicines and life
ways, the biodiversity of indigenous lands, indigenous economies and means of
subsistence, and the right to health.
LABOUR
147. Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance as experienced
by most migrant, immigrant, indigenous as well as second generation descendent
workers is manifested through multiple forms of discrimination practiced in the
workplace and in the communities in which they live. These include restrictive and
exclusionary immigration and labour laws and policies, the denial of trade union rights,
exploitative working conditions, low wages and non payment of wages, denial or
restriction of labour law protections based on types of job, lack of access to public
services such as health, housing and social security. It also includes subtle and overt
acts of hostility and violence based on colour, race, nationality, gender, age, caste,
class and ethnicity. Full labour law protections must be afforded all workers with no
discrimination based on occupation.This discrimination is structural in nature and
contravenes international standards. Undocumented migrant workers are doubly at risk
of racism and xenophobia. Their lack of legal status is too often used as an excuse to
deny human rights, including access to the law and social services.
148. The negative effects of globalisation has a specific impact on workers. In particular
globalisation has a negative effect on women who are trafficked as as sex trade
workers or employed as low wage and sweat shop workers.
149. Colonialism, slavery and other forms of servitude are primary sources of racism,
race discrimination and xenophobia and despite international agreements to outlaw
slavery, the trafficking of African children for slavery and forced labour is still ongoing
whilst the enslavement and other forms of servitude of Africans and African
descendants, Asian and Asian descendants and other marginalized groups have
resulted in substantial and lasting economic, political and cultural damage to these
peoples. This form of exploitation is particularly damaging to African and African
descendant women, who are still victims of sexual trafficking and sexual exploitation,
poverty and social exclusion
150. The policies and programmes of the WTO and International Financial Institutions,
in particular the IMF and World Bank, often aggravate racism and other discriminatory
practices.
151. Recognising the valuable role of trade unions, as democratic and representative
organizations of working people and their unique functions of trade unions in fighting
racism and discrimination in the labour market and in society generally, we recognize
the central role of those affected by racism in developing, implementing and monitoring
policies and programmes to eliminate racism.
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
152. We affirm the fundamental right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press
as a key tenet of human rights and a free democracy. We recognize, however, that
media plays an important role in shaping people's attitudes and beliefs about race and
this impact is increasing with globalization and increasing concentration of media
ownership.
153. We believe that information and communication technology can be used as a
positive tool to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, caste-based
discrimination and related intolerance and can promote tolerance, respect for diversity
in ways that help ensure opportunity, empowerment and access to information .
154. Information and communication technology is a factor in global inequities as
developed countries not only have greater access to these technologies but are also
producers of these technologies thereby rendering developing countries consumers.
We urge equal development that results in greater equity and balance in both access
to resources and training opportunities to develop key skills.
MIGRANTS AND MIGRANT WORKERS
155. The restructuring of the global economy facilitates the transnational movement of
capital but tries to restrict the and control the movement labour, thereby exacerbating
regional economic inequalities and the commodification and de-regularisation of
migrant workers, and especially forcing workers into 'flexible' conditions of work which
are exploitative and which undermine all universally accepted labour standards.
156. We express our concern that in many countries official
programmes and actions aimed at controlling migration and regulating inter-ethnic
relations result in new and covert forms of institutionalised racism. Migrants
and migrant workers, both documented and undocumented, contribute in various
ways to the well-being and enrichment of their own societies as well as of the
societies in which they reside and work and their access to equal rights and
opportunities in these countries, including access to permanent residency, citizenship,
and the recognition of their own independent status in all immigration matters,
especially for women and children must be recognised.
157. Migrants
and migrant workers as well as members of their families are vulnerable to racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The technical qualifications,
skills and expertise of migrants and migrant workers need to be valued, and
their full and fair access to employment in both the public and private sector
need to be ensured.
158. Women migrants
and migrant workers, including those with disabilities, are especially vulnerable
to all forms of violence and abuse due to the ways in which sexist and patriarchal
ideologies frame the current international division of labour and contribute
to the feminization of the work force, undervaluing women's work, and restricting
women to sectors of employment such as domestic work and entertainment.
159. Acknowledging that immigrant and refugee women, young people, girls and children
very often constitute a high proportion of workers in informal employment including
home-working or outworking, domestic work, sweatshops and the sex industry.
Language barriers, citizenship status, race discrimination and being part of an ethnic
minority contribute to the vulnerability of women, girls and children who work in this
sector. Governments should legislate to protect these women, girls and children,
prioritizing their human rights and undertake awareness raising programmes, working
with community organizations, ethnic communities and unions to ensure that migrant
workers and refugees are not exploited and made aware of how to enforce their rights.
Governments should also reform labour law to ensure that female dominated
employment sectors enjoy complete labour rights protection.
PALESTINIANS AND PALESTINE
160. Appalled by the on-going colonial military Israeli occupation of the Occupied
Palestinian Territories (the West Bank including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip), we
declare and call for an immediate end to the Israeli systematic perpetration of racist
crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing (as defined in the
Statute of the International Criminal Court), including uprooting by military attack, and
the imposition of any and all restrictions and measures on the population to make life
so difficult that the only option is to leave the area, and state terrorism against the
Palestinian people, recognizing that all of these methods are designed to ensure the
continuation of an exclusively Jewish state with a Jewish majority and the expansion
of its borders to gain more land, driving out the indigenous Palestinian population.
161. We declare that this alien domination and subjugation with the denial of territorial
integrity amounts to colonialism, which denies the fundamental rights of self-determination, independence and freedom of Palestinians. Condemn this process of
settler colonialism through the on-going collective punishments, expropriation and
destruction of Palestinian lands, homes, property, agricultural land and crops; the
establishment of illegal Israeli settlements, the mass transfer of Israeli Jewish
populations to the illegally expropriated Palestinian land and the development of a
permanent and illegal Israeli infrastructure, including by-pass roads.
162. We declare Israel as a racist, apartheid state in which Israels brand of apartheid as
a crime against humanity has been characterized by separation and segregation,
dispossession, restricted land access, denationalization, ¨bantustanization¨ and
inhumane acts.
163. Appalled by the inhumane acts perpetrated in the maintenance of this new form of
apartheid regime through the Israeli state war on civilians including military attacks,
torture, arbitrary arrests and detention, the imposition of severe restrictions on
movement (curfews, imprisonment and besiegement of towns and villages), and
systematic collective punishment, including economic strangulation and deliberate
impoverishment, denial of the right to food and water, the right to an adequate standard
of living, the right to housing, the right to education and the right to work.
164. We recognize that targeted victims of Israel´s brand of apartheid and ethnic
cleansing methods have been in particular children, women and refugees and condemn
the disproportionate numbers of children and women killed and injured in military
shooting and bombing attacks. Recognize the right of return of refugees and internally
displaced people to their homes of origin, restitution of properties, and compensation
for damages, losses and other crimes committed against them, as guaranteed in
international law.
165. Appalled by the discrimination against the Palestinians inside Israel which include:
The imposition of discriminatory laws, including the discriminatory laws of return and
citizenship, which emphasize the ethnicity of the Israeli state as a Jewish state; the
granting of benefits or privileges solely to the Jewish Israeli citizens; the imposition of
restrictions on the civil and political rights of Palestinians because of their national
belonging or because they do not belong to the majority ethnic group;The negation of
the right of Palestinians to equal access to resources of the State and civil equality,
including affirmative action policies, which recognize the historical discrimination
against Palestinians inside Israel.
REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS, STATELESS AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED
PERSONS
166. There is an inextricable link between racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance and the creation of situation which generate refugees, asylum
seekers, stateless and displaced persons.
167. In situations of flight and displacement, in refugee camps and in the process of
resettlement, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless and displaced persons are especially
vulnerable to all forms of violence and abuse, especially during their integration
168. We are particularly concerned about the situation of the Bhutanese people forcibly
displaced from their country under the racist 'One Nation One People' policy, which has
reallocated the land of these legitimate Bhutanese citizens to other ethnic groups and
deliberately delayed their peaceful repatriation.
169. Women constitute 80% of the world's refugees. Women refugees, asylum seekers,
stateless and displaced persons are victimised due to the intersectionality of gender
and disability and other forms of discrimination and face many difficulties in every stage
of their flight and displacement.
170. We call for the recognition of racial discrimination against refugees on grounds of
ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation and gender identity which negatively affects
their legal status and conditions of integration and resettlement.
171. The physical and psychological conditions of asylum seekers, recognized and
unrecognized refugees, stateless persons should be recognised especially to ensure
that those of them who are victims of torture and detention in their countries of origin
are not detained in receiving countries. The permanent, statutory presence of
humanitarian organizations to help and assist refugees, should be provided by law,
funded by the State and programmed in a pluralistic manner.
RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE
172. We welcome the initiative of the UN Secretary General in convening the Millenium
Peace Summit for World Spiritual and Religious Leaders in celebrating the 20th
anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance Based
on Religion or Belief and look forward to the full implementation of its conclusions by
all States.
173. We recognize that some religious communities and institutions have acknowledged
their historical complicity in perpetrating the ground for, or reinforcing colonization,
apartheid, the Slave Trade and slavery, and call for all other concerned religious
institutions to undertake the same action to declare and denounce racism and racial
discrimination as immoral and inhumane.
174. The freedom of expression, thought, conscience, religion and belief without any
distinction, exclusion or restriction or preference should form the basis on which States
protect the right of individuals and groups to profess and practice their own religion or
belief as well as to ensure their right to effectively participate in civil, political, economic,
social and cultural life.
ROMA NATION
175. Anti-Tziganisms is a specific form of racism and racial discrimination against Roma
, manifested by stigmatization, flagrant violations of their fundamental human rights,
denied access to public services, education, employment, denied participation to
decision-making processes at local and central administration levels, persecution,
abuse, violence, forced deportation, ethnic cleansing, extermination and ethnocide.
176. Drawing lessons from history, we declare as crimes against humanity the slavery
of Roma, the ethnocide / forced assimilation and genocide against Roma and the
extermination of Roma during the Holocaust.
177. Acknowledging the transnational
character of the Roma identity and its common roots from India, we strongly
support the right of Roma to be recognized by the UN, by the regional inter-governmental
bodies and organizations, by States and by the whole world, as a non-territorial
nation.
178. Deploring the public educational policies that deny the development of the esteem
of children and youth of Roma, we strongly condemn monocultural autarchic and
inflexible educational systems which ignore or stigmatize the Roma cultural identity.
179. We deplore the lack of equal access to employment and social services, including
justice, citizenship, housing, schooling, health care and public information for Roma and
particularly Roma women, strongly condemn those legislative provisions and public
policies that encourage such practices or avoid measures to combat them and consider
this fact as being institutionalized racism.
SEXUAL
ORIENTATION
180. Despite the existence of binding international agreements and conventions
establishing the principles of non-discrimination and equality without distinctions
regarding race, age, language, ethnic group, culture, religion, disability or other status,
and growing recognition of the freedom of sexual orientation as a fundamental human
right, there remain serious obstacles to the full enjoyment of civil and political rights, as
well as economic, social and cultural rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered
persons.
181. There are high rates of physical, sexual and psychological violence in the public
domain and in private life as well as hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered persons, particularly in cases aggravated by other forms of
discrimination.
182. Discrimination and intolerance based on sexual orientation and gender identity have
led to high suicide rates among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons in
many parts of the world.
183. Whenever measures are not taken to provide a clean environment because of
discrimination on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, caste and untouchability, age,
sexual orientation, gender identity, disabilities, religion, culture, social status, nationality
and other forms of discrimination, has often caused increased health problems for
many members of these groups.
184. We note with great concern that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other
intolerance, including homophobia and sexism, have played a significant role in barring
access to education and treatment for those infected, presumed to be infected and
affected by HIV/AIDS.
185. We also note with deep concern the dissemination in the media Of stereotypes and
pejorative images of Africans, African descendants, Indigenous Peoples, Dalits,
migrants and other groups affected by intolerance and discrimination and particularly,
women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons of these groups.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND CHILDREN
186. Children and young people, particularly young Indigenous Peoples, African and
African Descendants, Roma Peoples, Dalits, minorities and peoples of oppressed
nationalities, ethnicities or caste within their States are discriminated against, excluded
from and marginalized in the decision making processes, resulting in the limiting of the
full and active participation in the political, economic and cultural sectors. In addition,
children and young people, particularly girl children and young women and those with
disabilities are discriminated against in education, health, civil and criminal justice,
media and the environment.
187. We strongly condemn public educational policies that deny the development of
children and young people's self-esteem, through monocultural autarchic and inflexible
educational systems which ignore or stigmatise any children and young people, such
as but not limited to Indigenous peoples, African and African Descendants, Roma
Peoples, Dalits, minorities and peoples of oppressed nationalities, ethnicities or castes.
188. Young persons are often portrayed as criminals, based on stereotypes of race, class
and sexual orientation, and this criminalization results in further marginalization of this
community.
THE GIRL CHILD
189. The girl child suffers numerous racist and discriminatory acts and behaviours, which
compromise the girl child's development with her family, the community and society.
This then impacts negatively on her physical, psychological, biological needs and on
her sense of belonging.
190. The girl child suffers discrimination and intolerance rooted in wars and killings, which
destroy significant members of her family. In addition, the girl child is commercially
exploited due to unfavourable economic, sociological and cultural factors, particularly,
within families where boys are treated more advantageously.
TRAFFICKING
191. Trafficking in persons is a form of racism that is recognized as a contemporary form
of slavery and is aggravated by the increase in racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance. The demand side in trafficking is created by a
globalized market, and a patriarchal notion of sexuality. Trafficking happens within and
across boarders, largely in conjunction with prostitution.
192. Women and children are especially vulnerable to trafficking, as the intersectionality
of gender, disability, race and other forms of discrimination leads to multiple forms of
discrimination.
193. Trafficking in persons must always be dealt with not purely as a law enforcement
issue but within a framework of respect for the rights of trafficked persons.
NGO FORUM PROGRAMME OF ACTION
This plan of Action is informed by the following guiding principles:
194. Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance are forms of
discrimination based on historically unjust social, economic and political orders. These
phenomena mutate, re-invent and continue to manifest themselves in contemporary
societies, causing severe psychological scars and perpetuating deep inequality and
poverty. Therefore, this Programme of Action, whilst acknowledging the past and its
impact on the present, is forward looking, and requires a concerted and sustained effort
from members of the global community in order to succeed.
195. Racism and racial discrimination are founded on ideologies of racial supremacy that
have historically and systematically denied certain groups of people full enjoyment of
their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The restoration of dignity to those who
have suffered the consequences of these ideologies is central to our humanity.
196. The proliferation of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
is sustained by a lack of political will on the part of governments and other political,
economic and social actors. This indicates the magnitude of the task and the difficulties
that lie ahead in eradicating racism.
197. The eradication of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,
particularly contemporary forms of slavery, calls for a radical transformation of society,
and for a re-ordering of global institutions which are presently dominated by rich
countries and which have created a framework within which racist and other
discriminatory practices can continue to flourish.
198. Within this context, the UN should, as a priority, initiate and engage in a process
of restructuring that could more effectively implement the universal values of equality
and justice as envisaged by the UN Charter, and work towards redressing current
imbalances in global structures with a focus on addressing the core issue of poverty
and inequality.
199. In light of the above, the NGO Forum for the WCAR salutes the courage of all those
who have resisted and who continue to resist racism and all other forms of
discrimination and commits to support all efforts aimed at redressing past and present
violations through reparations and other remedies, based on the acknowledgement of
racism derived from historical privileges and prevailing in every part and country of the
world.
LEGAL MEASURES
We the NGO Forum :
200. Recognizing that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
constitute gross violations of human rights which threaten and undermine democratic
societies and the Rule of Law and that institutional and structural racism manifests itself
directly and indirectly in the laws, policies and practices of governments, institutions,
public service sector and multinationals, declare that these violations must be
addressed by appropriate legal measures, policies and practices
201. Recognizing that Global economic institutions such as the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organizations are dominated by the
G7 countries and that they perpetuate economic and social injustices in the developing
nations, call upon the United Nations to urgently review and address the structural
imbalances and inequalities in such institutions, in order to ensure equal access of
opportunity and equality between developed and developing nations. All States and
governments and the United Nation should ensure that these institutions meet all
human rights standards and universal values.
202. Recognizing that multinationals operate in a Global environment without effective
laws, policies and practices to regulate them. Multinationals are often guilty of
committing gross human rights violations in developing countries and that this
perpetuates economic, political and social injustice thus causing further instability. We
call upon the UN to appoint a special Rapporteur whose mandate should be to
investigate and to report on the role of multinationals in the commission of gross human
rights violations and such practices that perpetuate racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance in all countries. The Report should make specific
recommendations relating to the establishment of a Special Covenant to govern the
conduct of multinationals globally
203. Recognizing that the structure of the Security Council perpetuates economic and
social injustice and racism, call upon the United Nations to restructure the Security
Council to address the imbalance in voting powers that has resulted in the perpetuation
of racism for decades. Such restructuring should address the issue of permanent and
non-permanent membership so as to ensure equity in the decision making process.
204. Recognizing the concerns of marginalized groups and persons within the global
community of the role and accountability of the Judiciary about the application and
interpretation of laws the impact of which perpetuates racism. We call upon the
Commission on Human rights to expand the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the
Independence of Judges and Lawyers to deal with questions of accountability of the
Judiciary and make recommendations in respect thereof. The mandate of the
Rapporteur should also include recommendations on the training of Judges particularly
in the areas of human rights and humanitarian law and contemporary forms of racism
within the system. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism should
have his mandate extended similarly.
205. Recognizing that the efforts of the UN High Commissioner to effect positive
changes in Humanitarian law are severely hampered by the paucity of the budget
allocated to such office, call upon the UN to provide that office with a regular and
proper budget to ensure its effective functioning of that office.
206. Recognizing that globalization reinforces the exploitation and exclusion of
developing countries from the full benefit of economic and political and social
development call upon Governments to cancel the debts of developing countries.
207. Recognizing that whilst States are signatories to International and regional
Instruments, yet seldom comply with their obligations in terms thereof, thus
perpetuating a culture of impunity. We therefore call upon all States to ratify without
reservation, and implement all international and regionalinstruments. In particular:-
· The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(ICERD);
· The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICPR);
· The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR);
· The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), and its additional Protocol;
· The Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of their Families (MWC);
· The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC);
· The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (Convention Against Torture);
· The International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); and
· The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action.
· The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights
· The African Charter on the Welfare and Rights of the Child
· The OAU Convention on Specific Aspects on Refugees in Africa
· Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
· European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
including Protocol 12 to this convention
· European Convention on Regional and Minority Languages
· European Framework Convention on Ethnic Minorities
· European Social Charter and Optional Protocol allowing for submission of collective
complaints
· The American Convention on Human Rights
· The American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man
· The First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, allowing for the submission of individual and group
complaints
· All ILO Conventions as well as UNESCO instruments
· The UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and Supplementary Protocol
to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Children
· 1949 Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the
Prostitution
· Stockholm Agenda for Action Addressing the Sexual Exploitation of Children
The following measures should be addressed:
25. Urge States to adopt the draft Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights providing for a system of individual and collective
complaints.
26. Recognizing the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
which holds governments responsible for respecting and promoting a set of
fundamental rights for workers, including freedom of association, the elimination of
forced labour, the abolition of child labour, and the prohibition against discrimination in
employment, as well as ILO Convention169 on Indigenous Peoples and Conventions
97 and 143 on Migrant Workers.
27. Recognizing the value and importance of the binding general comments issued by
ICERD, we call upon States to:
28. Implement Art. 6 of ICERD which assures effective protection and remedies to victims
of racism and racial discrimination and accept the right to just and fair compensatory
measures for victims of racism and racial discrimination.
29. Implement Art. 7 of ICERD, which targets education as an essential, mean for
combating racism.
30. Lift any reservations to ICERD, and declare under Article 14 of the Convention that it
recognizes the competence of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) to accept the filing of individual complaints to the Committee.
31. Support the UN in strengthening the role of CERD to allow for enforceable sanctions
in cases where CERD's Concluding Observations on the monitoring of States are not
complied with by governments within a reasonable period of time.
32. Request that State reports to CERD should include race and sex disaggregated data
on the impact and effect of the adopted legislation.
33. Develop in accordance with Article 71 of Part 2 of The Vienna Declaration a Program
of Action that requires "each State to consider the desirability of drawing up a national
action plan identifying steps whereby the State would improve the protection and
promotion of human rights", which include plans of action aimed at fighting racism,
institutional or otherwise, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and
promote partnership relations with civil society mainly through specialized independent
national institutions on human rights and equality.
34. Create effective National institutions on human rights and equality. These institutions
should be independent and have the power to monitor the implementation of anti-discriminatory legislation, to provide assistance and legal aid to victims and their
families, to have recourse to judicial authorities, and to have investigative, enforcement
and policy making powers. These institutions should reflect in their composition, the
diversity of the society at large. They should be funded adequately and should function
without interference from the State and with all the guarantees necessary for their
independence and impartiality
35. Fully comply with international humanitarian law obligations and respect non-discrimination provisions binding on all parties to an armed conflict and ensure that the
United Nations Special Rapporteurs are always granted admission to all territories of
armed conflict...
36. Adopt and implement comprehensive legislation expressly prohibiting discrimination
in all spheres of life, including but not limited to education, housing, employment, health
care, social services, access to citizenship, access to public places and all other goods
and services available to the public. Such legislation should integrate a full gender
dimension, taking into consideration the intersectional discrimination faced by
marginalized communities and vulnerable groups. The implementation of such
legislation should be periodically reviewed.
37. Mainstream the issue of combating racism into all national policies and practices,
including all spheres of public life. Mainstreaming should include the application of
equality proofing, guidelines, positive actions, data production, proactive monitoring and
impact assessment. All groups experiencing racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia
and related intolerances should be encouraged to participate in such activities.
38. Identify and combat institutionalized racism in every sphere in which it appears and
systematically combat racist and xenophobic attitudes within governmental institutions
and the public sector and to review all existing legislation, administrative procedures
and rules, including those on citizenship, nationality and immigration to ensure that no
provisions are discriminatory.
39. Civil society should be involved in the design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of all policies and programmes to combat and prevent racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
40. Ensure
that, in accordance with International Human rights standards, all groups and
persons whose rights have been violated have access to reparation.
41. Ensure the protection of persons or organizations that lay complaints and report
incidents of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
42. Establish programs of affirmative action to include persons affected by racism, racial
and gender discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the recruitment,
hiring, training, retention and promotion within the criminal justice system, particularly
those impacted by the intersectionality of these grounds.
43. Urge States to adopt policies to ensure that public funds are provided only to
organizations that have non-discrimination policies.
44. Urge States to recognize the need for uniform measures and the collection of
disaggregated data on racial and gender disparities in the enjoyment of fundamental
human rights, the complexities in establishing such uniform standards, the need to work
with NGOs in developing such measures and collecting such data, and to commit to the
public disclosure and dissemination of that data.
45. Urge States to acknowledge the need for technical and financial support to develop
and implement uniform measures and the collection of disaggregated data on racial
disparities and commit to the establishment of an international trust to provide for such
assistance.
46. Call upon the UN to organize a follow-up
conference in 2005 in order to evaluate the progress made by States, governments
and civil society in the fight against racism and to put in place mechanisms
to monitor implementation at an international level of all regional and national
action plans.
AFRICAN AND AFRICAN DESCENDANTS
47. We call on the Sub-commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights to
establish a Working Group on African and African Descendants throughout the world.
48. We strongly call on the UN to establish, within one year from this World Conference
Against Racism, an international tribunal to measure the extent of the damages
resulting from the slave trade, slavery and colonialism on Africans and African
Descendants. We call on the United Nations to establish and resource a world institute
based in Africa and dedicated to research, fact finding and resource networking for
Africans and African Descendants in the Diaspora.
49. We call on all States to recognise anti-Black racism as a form of racism with its own
specificities that manifests itself particularly against Africans and African Descendants.
SLAVERY AND SLAVE TRADE
50. We demand that educational curricula reflect the accurate historical experiences of
both the victims and the perpetrators of the Trans Atlantic SlaveTrade, Trans-Saharan
and Trans-Indian Ocean Slave Trade, Slavery and Colonialism.
51. Therefore, we call for the
establishment of an international tribunal within one year to document the character
and extent of harm derived from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Trans-Saharan
and Trans-Indian Ocean Slave Trade, slavery and colonialism which are crimes
against humanity.
52. Urge governments in Cameroon, Mauritania, Niger and Sudan that engage in any form
of slavery to eradicate this practice. In particular, laws abolishing traditional slavery
should include reparations for the victims of these violations. Criminal sanctions should
be imposed on perpetrators of these crimes. States should recognize the human rights
of these victims, including their political, social, economic, cultural and civil rights.
53. We demand that the United States, Canada, and those
European and Arab nations that participated in and benefited from the Trans
Atlantic Slave Trade, the Trans-Sahara Slave Trade, the Trans-Indian Ocean Slave
Trade, Slavery and the Colonization of Africa, within one year of the WCAR establish
an international compensatory mechanism for victims of these crimes against
humanity.
REPARATIONS
The United Nations and States shall:
54. Ensure that, in accordance with universally
recognised human rights norms and standards, all nations, groups and their members
who are the victims of crimes against humanity based on race, colour, caste,
descent, ethnicity or indigenous or national origin are provided reparations;
55. Ensure that the perpetrators and beneficiaries of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,
Slavery, Colonialism, Foreign Occupation acknowledge that these polices and practices
are crimes against humanity;
56. Create programs of reparations for the victims of crimes against humanity and
violations of human rights reaching the masses of the victimized and not merely an elite
few and designed to address the specific character of the peoples injured that include:
57. Restitution encompassing the unconditional return of land, heritage icons and artifacts;
the provision of land to those forced to leave their homelands and forcibly resettled in
foreign lands; cancellation of debt of countries victimized by these crimes against
humanity including African countries and impoverished countries in the Americas;
58. Monetary compensation that will repair the victims, including Africa, Africans and
African descendants, by closing the economic gap created by these crimes and
encompassing debt cancellation, programs for creation and enhancement of
participation in production enterprises; full accessibility and affirmative inclusion in all
levels of employment opportunity; grants of cash payments based on assessment of
losses resulting from the violations of human rights and crimes against humanity;
59. Restoration including release of all political prisoners, providing for health care,
including mental health care, educational and social services that are specifically
designed to correct the injuries caused by the violations of human rights and crimes
against humanity;
60. Satisfaction and guarantee of non-repetition includes the public acknowledgment of the
crimes against humanity; the correction of the history of Africa, African and African
descendants in educational materials and in the media; acknowledgment of the
economic base of exploitation of the victims of crimes against humanity and violations
of human rights and the unjust enrichment of the perpetrators;
61. Create an independent international and regional monitoring organization with the
responsibility to assure that programs of reparations are designed and implemented
with timetables and that satisfy the provisions of this programme of action are
accomplished;
62. We call on all States to acknowledge the principle of reparations for the cultural,
demographic, economic, political, social and moral wrongs of the Trans-Atlantic slave
trade, Trans-Saharan slave trade, Trans-Indian Ocean slave trade, slavery and
colonisation and that African and African Descendant victims reserve the right to
determine the form and manner of reparations;
63. We call on all concerned African nations to take formal legal action to obtain the return
of stolen cultural artifacts, gold, money, mineral wealth and the return of occupied land
on the continent and call on the international community to support such actions.
ANTISEMITISM
64. Ensure that all members of civil society clearly and publicly condemn all forms of
antisemitism; recognize the responsibility of public officials to publicly disavow hate
mongers, hate speech, and other forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or
justify acts of antisemitism; ensure that appropriate anti-discrimination legislation exists
and is adequately implemented to ensure that action is taken against individuals and
institutions responsible for discrimination and criminal acts against Jews, and the
denigration of Jews; promote concrete actions which will counteract and prevent the
increase of antisemitic incidents and hostile action against Jews as well as the rise of
radical and violent movements which foster racist ideologies and discriminatory
practices against the Jewish community; promote Holocaust remembrance, notably
through education and the organization of cultural or media events, including the
promotion of national days of Holocaust remembrance,
65. Include the subject of antisemitism in anti-racist education for students and teachers,
and in all teaching materials, particularly in history and social science books; introduce
measures to eliminate antisemitic propaganda, and antisemitic references in school
curricula, textbooks and the media; promote public awareness and tolerance through
non-formal education and the media; give Jewish youth an opportunity to take an active
role in educating the world about the evil that necessarily results from Jew hatred;
promote a voluntary internet code of conduct and other voluntary measures against the
purveying of sites that promote racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance; encourage the United Nations within the context of the UN Decade of
Human Rights Education, to establish a month each year dedicated to promoting
responsible use of the internet with a particular focus on the internet.
ASIANS AND ASIAN DESCENDANTS
66. In situations of civil and international conflicts in Asia, including armed struggles
between ethnoracial, religious, national, or caste groups, international human rights
organizations must be given the right to investigate and document cases of rape, child
abuse, ethnic cleansing, detention without trial, custodial deaths, and disappearances.
The international community should be encouraged to impose sanctions against nation
states that act with impunity and refuse to comply with their obligations under
international human rights law, and courts should pursue prosecution of the
perpetrators of heinous crimes.
67. We call on the UN Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights
to establish a Working Group on Asian and Asian Descendant populations including
ethnic and religious minorities in Asian countries. We further call on all states to create
Commissions with sufficient resources and with NGO participation to identify, examine
and address issues of discrimination and persecution against Asians and Asian
descendants based on race, ethnicity, caste, languages, religion, citizenship or migrant
status, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and other factors.
68. We call on states to institute programmes and policies to protect Asians and Asian
descendants from police misconduct and hate crimes, to ensure the full inclusion and
equality of Asians and Asian descendants through access to fair immigration policies,
as well as fair access to employment, housing and financial resources, and in particular
to acknowledge and value the work of Asians and Asian descendant women by
protecting them from exploitation through such policies and programmes.
69. We call upon states, media and academic institutions to address racism, xenophobia
and stereotyping of Asians and Asian descendants by promoting their appropriate and
diverse representation in text books, courses and both entertainment and news media
and by ensuring their fair access to media through relevant licensing and regulatory
bodies.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
70. Recognize, in accordance with international law and with the Statute of the International
Criminal Court, that the persecution of any identifiable group on political, racial,
national, ethnic caste, descent and work, cultural, religious, gender, disability or other
grounds constitutes crimes against humanity and in view of the importance of
combating impunity, sign and ratify, if they have not yet done so, the Statute of the
International Criminal Court. At the same time, we urge all States and governments to
speedily conduct at national level, investigations and prosecutions of war crimes in
compliance with their international obligations
71. Abolish the death penalty, giving particular consideration to the fact that throughout the
world it is used disproportionately against people belonging to racial, ethnic, national
minorities and Indigenous Peoples.
72. To ensure that persons who are affected by racism, racist practices, xenophobia and
related intolerance have access to an effective criminal defence, which includes the
explanation of reasons for the arrest, detention, legal, proceedings and charges,
interpretation services, free of charge and at all stages of the criminal process, and also
provides access to diplomatic representatives for Foreign nationals.
73. To ensure the eradication
of impunity within the criminal justice system, particularly law enforcement,
judicial and correctional personnel, and in the public sector, through the establishment
of internal and external independent complaints, monitoring mechanisms and investigations,
and the imposition of disciplinary and criminal sanctions for transgressions.
74. We call upon States to ensure that selection processes for the appointment of Judges
take into account persons previously excluded on the grounds of race, gender, ethnicity
and colour, particularly those impacted by the intersectionality of these grounds.
Selection processes should also take into account that persons appointed should be
independent of political and executive, economical or social influence.
75. We call upon States to revise and adopt laws and procedures regarding the manner in
which the judiciary operates, to ensure that judges act in an independent and unbiased
fashion, so as to apply the law equally, fairly and justly to all individuals and groups,
particularly those who are without any political, social or economic power, and
discriminated on grounds of racism, gender, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance.
76.
To ensure that effective mechanisms, including data collection, are established
to prevent the racial profiling of victims of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance, including a clear prohibition of reliance
on race ethnicity or other group identity, by by law enforcement, prosecutorial
or judicial officers, through a review of laws and policies, to ensure that
they are not discriminatory in purpose or impact, particularly in prisons and
other places of detention.
77.
To ensure that States enact legislation to prevent the practice of treating
minors as adults within the criminal justice system, as this affects a disproportionately
large number of persons belonging to marginalized groups, particularly in the
area of sentencing.
78. To develop policies and practices that prohibit the use of excessive force by law
enforcement officers, provide increased sanctions for use of excessive force motivated
by racial or other discrimination, and to require special training programs on non-lethal
and proportionate levels of force and alternatives to the use of force for law
enforcement officers.
79. To ensure strict and regular monitoring, inspection and control mechanisms in all
places of detention, including private and alternative prisons, concrete and immediate
steps to end the exploitation of the labour of incarcerated people, full access to
incarcerated poputlations to educational programmes and facilities and timely and
appropriate preventative, diagnostic and curative physical and mental health services,
and programs which focus specifically on the reintegration of offenders into their
communities after their release from prison.
80. Require that all states ensure that Public officials, criminal justice and law enforcement
agencies act in a non-discriminatory manner and that specific training programs on anti-racist, anti-xenophobic and gender sensitive practices are designed for such officials
and agencies. Such officials and agencies should be required to publicly disavow hate
speech, and conduct that foments acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerance.
81. To ensure, that States comply with article 10 of the UN Convention against Torture
(CAT), by ensuring that educational measures explicitly address the implications of the
fourth purpose contained in the definition of torture ("discrimination of any kind") found
in article 1 of the Convention, thus helping to prevent torture, ill-treatment and any kind
of violence against disproportionately targeted groups and individuals.
82. To ensure that asylum seekers are not subjected to criminal or other punishment on the
basis of any illegal entry or presence, that detention of asylum seekers is used only as
a measure of last resort (except that unaccompanied minors should not be detained in
any circumstances), subject to periodic judicial review, with a maximum duration
specified in national law, with guarantee for the right of appeal against this detention,
and with strict and regular inspection by independent bodies. If detained, asylum
seekers should be held in special immigration detention centres, in conditions
appropriate to their status and in accordance with international standards, and not with
perons charged with or convicted of criminal offences.
83. To ensure that special attention is given to the rights
of refugees and asylum seekers to adequate and effective representation and
prompt judicial proceedings, and that groups, including non citizens such as
documented or undocumented migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, are provided
necessary information and legal assistance in the event of torture, ill treatment
or any kind of violence, perpetrated on the basis of race, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance.
DALITS AND OTHER COMMUNITIES DISCRIMINATED AGAINST ON THE BASIS OF
WORK AND DESCENT
84.
Enact suitable legislation to recognise and eradicate discrimination based on
work and descent, including caste discrimination and untouchability against
Dalits, Buraku people and other affected communities, in those countries where
such legislation does not exist; and in countries where legislation banning
such discrimination already exists, take immediate steps to create transparent
and effective monitoring mechanisms including the establishment of time-bound
programmes to ensure effective implementation of such legislation, even
where the perpetrators are States or State agents.
85. Declare work and descent based discrimination, including caste discrimination and
untouchability, as Crimes against Humanity and enact and enforce legislation to
guarantee the right to life and security, particularly the women and children of these
communities, to criminalise violence, atrocities and incitement to discrimination and
violence committed against these communities, and to effectively and speedily
prosecute offenders at all levels.
86. Enforce speedy and effective
legal and programmatic measures to abolish the traditional practice of the Devadasi
system and to rehabilitate the Dalit women and improve the quality of their
lives by giving them access to arable lands, proper housing, gainful employment
and education.
87. Undertake a survey of the situation of the Buraku people in Japan to ascertain the
nature and extent of the discrimination they continue to face despite the enactment of
temporary 'Special Measures' by the Government of Japan, and take all necessary
legal, administrative and other measures to eradicate such discrimination.
88.
Ensure that these communities, who have contributed to the nation-building process
through their massive but unrecognised and silent labour, are protected by law
from exploitation of their labour, including the implementation of laws that
provide for a living wage and prohibit child labour, bonded labour and manual
scavenging. Also implement laws relating to land reform that would guarantee
access to and control of land for these communities, and ensure that these lands
are officially registered in the name of women of these communities.
89. Create
and strengthen transparent policies and systems of affirmative action, irrespective
of religious affiliation, that enhance the access of these communities, especially
their women, to higher government posts, including scientific institutions,
and to posts in the government administration, the judiciary, law enforcement
agencies and the private sector, including multinational corporations.
90. Allocate
adequate funds to guarantee the enjoyment of their rights to livelihood, land,
education, housing, potable drinking water, sanitation, health and employment
opportunities, with special emphasis on their women, and establish effective
monitoring mechanisms to ensure full and proper utilisation of available funds.
91. Undertake mass-scale public awareness raising and educational initiatives, with the
active support of NGOs and other segments of civil society, in order to promote positive
changes in attitudes towards and within communities discriminated against on the basis
of work and descent based discrimination, for which the necessary budget allocation
shall be earmarked by the State.
92. Introduce measures
of reparation for the centuries-old wrongdoings committed against these communities
through legislation and appropriate machineries for the purpose of restitution,
monetary compensation, rehabilitation and for ensuring guarantees of non-repetition.
93. The
United Nations to ensure the implementation by the States of all relevant recommendations
and resolutions of the UN human rights treaty monitoring bodies and of the UN
Sub-Commission on the Promotion of Human Rights, and immediately appoint a UN
Special Rapporteur to study the question of work and descent based discrimination,
including caste discrimination and untouchability, against these communities
in different parts of the world.
94. NGOs to lobby to ensure that the relevant Governments are made accountable to
Parliament and to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for
their implementation of policies and programmes aimed at eradicating work and
descent based discrimination, including caste discrimination and untouchability, by
constitutionally mandating their Governments to submit and openly discuss the annual
reports of National Human Rights Institutions.
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
95. We urge upon States to ensure specific programs of optimal rehabilitation including
access to assisted devices and technology, education, recognition of informal skills, job
integration without discrimination and equitable remuneration.
96. We call upon States to address the stigmatization of disability through a wide range of
strategies promoting disability awareness and the rights of Persons with Disabilities to
equitable access to, and equitable share of national resources
97. We call upon States to develop relevant protocols to ensure representation and
participation of Persons with Disabilities in the decision making process of states and
communities at all levels.
98. We call upon states to examine the intersection of race and disability in order to
develop and implement strategies aimed at the elimination of disability based
discrimination. Design, with full participation of Persons with Disabilities, and
implement and monitor all anti-racist policies as disability sensitive.
99. We urge the United Nations and States members to acknowledge and redress the
situation of discrimination and stigmatization of Persons with Disabilities throughout the
human history.
100. We urge them to implement legislation, programs and services aiming their full
enjoyment of human rights with no distinction based on type of disability, color, race,
gender, age, national or ethnic origin, religion, language, culture, caste, socio-economic
status or any other status, property.
101. Create
the necessary conditions in order to generate the establishment of regional
and International Networks on Disability in order to monitor the situation of
Persons with Disabilities around the world and to exchange information on these
issues.
102. We
call upon States at the national and international levels to ensure that Persons
with Disabilities are provided equitable opportunities to participate in all
aspects of events such as WCAR, NGO forums, etc, including in the roles of speakers,
rapporteurs, resource persons as well as in cultural events.
103. We
further call upon states at the national and international level to ensure that
such events are held in venues which have full disability access.
104. We call upon all NGOs to, over the next year, conduct a comprehensive analysis
of their existing programs for physical and programmatic access for people with
disabilities and to make appropriate changes to eliminate barriers.
EDUCATION
Education as a means of redress should be viewed from the broad perspective of
encompassing as a comprehensive strategy:
· Formal Education;
· Non Formal education
· Adult Education;
· Awareness Campaigns;
· Information dissemination (access to information);
· Education for the transformation of Public Sector Officials; and
· The Media and information technology.
FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION INCLUDING ADULT EDUCATION
8. Implement the U.N. Decade for Human Rights Education 1995-2004, and support its
continuation for a further Decade with increased human and financial resources.
9. Ensure equal access to education at all levels, including higher education, without
discrimination on any ground, for all persons irrespective of their legal status and
abolish policies and practices promoting or leading to racial segregation in education.
10. Include human rights education and human values as a dimension in the national
curricula for primary and secondary schools aiming for all pupils to have an awareness
and understanding of their rights and responsibilities. Include in national curricula for
primary and secondary school a human rights education with an emphasis on universal
values aimed at ensuring that learners have an awareness their rights and
responsibilities under domestic constitutions, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights
instruments.
11. Review the education curriculum with the purpose of eliminating any elements that
might promote racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance or
reinforce negative stereotypes. Efforts must also be made for the systematic collection
of data, for planning and evaluation, on educational quality and achievement. Further,
we encourage a holistic approach that includes a balance between a science and
technology based approach and an indigenous knowledge and philosophy based
approach.
12. Ensure that education syllabi incorporate an accurate history of the struggle of the
people against colonialism, genocide, slavery, apartheid, imperialism and patriarchal
ideologies and caste-based practices which have entrenched racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. In addition, ensure that education
curricula highlight the vital contributions of different cultures and groups, such as
Africans and African descendants, Indigenous peoples, migrants and other ethnic,
racial, cultural, religious and linguistic groups have played in building national identities.
13. Review and develop the educational system to allow for learning and instruction to be
pursued in mother-tongue language(s), and to ensure that access to education is not
denied to vulnerable groups on the basis of linguistic ability and criteria. In addition, to
provide affirmative educational support from marginalized groups, through such
measures as extra-tutorial, pre-school education, stipends for books and supplies,
scholarships for vocational professional and higher education and employment
guidance and assistance.
14. Educational policies be pursued that includes cultural, racial and sexual diversity and
that recovers the historical contribution of women in the development of their peoples,
communities and nations.
15. To provide to all peoples and cultures in educational centres, access to technology in
equal conditions, especially in areas that have no access to higher education, for an
equitable and sustainable development and the eradication of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
16. Take measures to increase the recruitment and promotion of members of minority
groups as teachers, trainers and care providers and guarantee effective equality of
access to the teaching profession. Additionally, ensure that pupils, parents and
teachers are given information and training on Human Rights and are trained to deal
with racist incidents in schools with a full awareness of the remedies that are available.
17. Encourage businesses and multi-national corporations to promote understanding and
acceptance within their workplace through educational programs on the values of
cultural diversity, cross-cultural communication and non-discrimination, as well as skills
development for disadvantaged groups.
18. Promote adult education for the public at large, addressing the question of functional
illiteracy in minority languages.
19. Efforts must be made for the systematic collection of data for planning and evaluation,
disaggregated by race on educational quality and achievement.
20. Comply and take action on the commitment of States to the Dakar and Jomtien
Declaration.
PUBLIC AWARENESS AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION
States and governments should:
21. Commit themselves to undertaking public information to alert their societies to the
dangers of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, and to
support initiatives of non-governmental organisations in this respect.
22. Set up or facilitate the provision of free access to sources of information on the rights
and remedies of victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, including all forms of religious intolerance.
23. Organise and support networks of information in the combat against racism and related
intolerance at local, national and regional level, and facilitate the key role of NGO's in
combating racism and related intolerance, acknowledging their significant role in
disseminating information and establishing networks among target groups.
24. Establish and resource an independent body or bodies, which is tasked to:
· Study the historical and emerging causes of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia
and related intolerance; its effects and suitable remedies;
· Focus on combating all ideologies, policies and practices which lead to or incite racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;
· Undertake and facilitate awareness raising campaigns informing all levels of society
about racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;
· Integrate, co-operate, encourage and support civil society bodies and NGO's in their
work in the eradication of racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance.
TRAINING AND EDUCATION FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
States and governments should:
5. Conduct nationwide campaigns to raise awareness among State organs, such as the
judiciary, and law enforcement agencies, public officials, including legislators, as well
as civil society organisations, including associations involved with migrants and other
vulnerable groups, concerning the provisions of the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
6. Train police and immigration officials in the application of international human rights
standards and that the successful completion of such training programmes be made
one of the criteria for promotion.
7. Implement training programmes on the dangers of racism and intolerance, including
sexist prejudices, disability discrimination stereotyping and multiple discrimination and
promote respect for cultural diversity by officials in all spheres of public life, in particular
the police and the military, the judiciary and other agents of the administration of
justice, teachers and other educationalists, and officials working in the sphere of health
and social welfare.
8. Develop specific measures for agents of the criminal justice system, in particular the
police and other law enforcement officers, for their interactions with target groups and
minorities.
9. Governments and states should promote research addressing the roots and
manifestations of all forms of contemporary racism, including those not rooted in
slavery, and to introduce educational programmes for both civil servants and the
general public based on the principle of priority of human rights and multiculturalism.
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
10. To promote sustainable development, governments must develop, improve, and apply
economic, health, and social indicators to assess the quality of life for people impacted
by environmental racism, implement a just transition to clean, affordable and
sustainable modes of production, and pollution prevention, develop, apply, and transfer
to all States information and technologies that can reduce and eliminate environmental
health hazards and enable the thorough remediation of contaminated sites, ensure
medical services to persons suffering from toxic exposure, develop laws which prohibit
transboundary, especially from industrialized to non-industrialized countries, and intra-border deposition of toxics and polluting technologies, which degrade the environment
and harm human health, urge UN agencies, international and regional financial
mechanisms, and donor countries to reform their loan and grant-making practices and
provide the resources that enable all States to develop, improve, and implement the
laws, policies, and practices as called for by this program of action.
11. Governments must establish, comply with, and enforce international conventions,
treaties, declarations, national laws, and policies that ensure the fundamental rights of
all people to clean air, land, water, food and safe and decent housing. Such legal
instruments and policies must provide protection for urban and rural communities,
workers, especially agricultural laborers, from environmental hazards that
disproportionately impact people who have historically been subjected to discrimination
based on race, class, color, gender, caste, ethnicity and/or national origin, ensure the
right of all people to meaningful participation in decision-making on environmental and
health issues, including culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach and education
as well as guarantee fair access to judicial and administrative proceedings and
remedies for environmental racism, and establish legally binding instruments and
mechanisms to hold states and corporations accountable to international and
domestica laws protecting human rights.
12. Governments must ensure that all governmental policies and practices adhere to the
principles of precautionary approach and polluter-pays as provided in the Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development. Develop and implement programs of
sustainable development with the involvement of those affected by environmental
racism and other non-state actors in order to redress and improve health,
environmental, and economic conditions. Establish programs to protect people from
environmental racism caused by military, governmental, and industrial activities. Such
programs must include protection from dangerous health threats, remediation of
environmental degradation caused by the military, governments, and industry, as well
as the disposal of toxic stockpiles that meets 100% efficiency. Reform economic
development policies with mechanisms for prioritizing health, social, cultural, and
religious/spiritual values.
13. As full partners in the eradication of environmental racism and quest for sustainable
development, the NGO Forum calls upon NGOs to: foster meaningful national and
international participation in public and private decision-making affecting local
communities and their environments; study the effects of environmental racism on our
communities; identify and publicize the effects of environmental racism on workers and
communities; educate civil society on the impacts of environmental racism; advocate
for public and private sector policies and laws that protect natural resources, eliminate
contamination affecting communities, and restore contaminated environments; provide
victims of environmental racism with legal advisory assistance to access justice and
attain fair compensation; and develop regional environmental justice networks to share
information, strategies, lessons learned, engage in mutual solidarity actions, and
monitor the compliance and enforcement of the obligations of industry, governments,
and intergovernmental agencies to make possible equitable and sustainable
development. The NGO Forum calls on governments, intergovernmental agencies, UN
agencies and other financial mechanisms, and philanthropic organizations to provide
the financing and technical assistance necessary to enable NGOs to carry out this
action plan.
ETHNIC AND NATIONAL MINORITIES
14. We urge States to fully recognize all fundamental human rights for members of ethnic
and national groups, and especially full equal citizenship for them in all fields of public
life. States should repeal legislation that facilitates discrimination against ethnic and
racial minorities and prevents them from enjoying their identity, culture, religion and
language or renders members of minority communities stateless.
15. We recommend that governments and international organizations take urgent action
to eradicate the widespread discrimination and persecution of ethnic and national
groups, by implementing national public and social policies to redress discrimination,
including affirmative action programmes. In particular, States should set up systems
of government and administration that allow ethnic and national groups to participate
in decision-making and implementation. States engaged in post-conflict transition
should adopt systems of power sharing, based, wherever possible, on parties rather
than ethnicity.
16. We urge states to enact legislation, including constitutional protection, in order to
ensure cultural rights for all, and to protect and promote cultural diversity on their
territory. We recommend that governments develop intercultural educational provisions
and curricula that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. These should ensure that
all groups and individuals have an understanding of their multicultural society, and that
they share common values in the public domain, which evolves through democratic
participation. States should support and encourage organizations that promote minority
cultures and languages, and promote cultural exchanges and understandings between
different communities.
17. Where an ethnic or national groups is geographically concentrated, states should
establish territorial autonomy to provide for self-government, where and when the
ethnic or national group desire it. The rights of other minorities, especially smaller
groups within these areas, should also be protected, and individual rights always
respected.
18. The state has an obligation to provide human security for all persons and must desist
from using its security and military apparatus to manipulate and create divisions
amongst minority communities. States must take immediate steps to reduce their
military budgets and channel these resources into the establishment of country-wide
multi-cultural education and media programmes and the promotion and protection of
minority rights.
19. We urge States to ensure that national human rights mechanisms independently and
effectively monitor the impact of development projects and programmes on ethnic and
national groups, while ensuring their conformity with international human rights
standards. These mechanisms should ensure the full participation of the affected
communities and of civil society in the monitoring process. Governments should adopt
land tenure and land use policies and regulations that are in conformity with
international standards on traditional land and territorial rights for ethnic and national
groups. The land rights of pastoral, nomadic and forest peoples must be recognised
and enshrined in law.
20. We recommend that governments, and multilateral and bilateral development agencies
ensure the right of ethnic and national groups to participate in the formulation,
implementation and evaluation of country strategies, development plans and
programmes that affect them. This participation must be comprehensive and
transparent through all stages of the project cycle. The nature of participation should
be consistent with the traditional decision-making processes of ethnic and national
groups, if they so request. Equal consideration should be given to, inter alia, women,
older people, persons with disabilities, children and those living with HIV and AIDS
within ethnic and national groups, allowing them to express their own perception of
rights and development needs.
21. We call for the development of a binding international convention on persons belonging
to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, based on the UN Declaration on
the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.
22. We call for the creation of an international judicial mechanism whose mandate will be
to intervene in cases of widespread human rights abuses especially concerning the
rights for life and security of the members of of ethnic or national groups.
23. We call for the establishment of regional systems for the protection of ethnic and
national groups where they do not currently exist.
24. We call on States to set up institutions, such as minority
ombudspersons, to ensure fair treatment for ethnic and national groupsand the
promotion of ethnic and national participation in political, economical, social
and cultural life as well as in any fields of public life.
25. The Palestinian Citizens of Israel should be recognized as a distinct national minority
group based on Article 27 of the ICCPR. We call for the implementation of the
recommendations and concluding comments regarding Israel issued by UN Human
Rights treaty or Charter based bodies such as the CESCR, the Human Rights
Committee and the Commission on human rights, which emphasized the Palestinian
citizens' collective rights regarding lands, absentee property, uprooted villages and the
unrecognized villages.
26. We express deep concern at the systematic and institutionalized discriminatory policies
practiced against the Kurdish people. We condemn the crimes committed against the
Kurdish people, such as genocide, ethnic cleansing, denial of their cultural and
linguistic rights, mass disappearances, destruction of villages and towns. In order to
ensure Kurdish people's rights for freedom, dignity and self determination we call upon
the international community and the concerned states to end these policies, render
justice, decide on reparations for the victims and develop effective monitoring
mechanisms. We demand that the right of the Kurdish people to statehood be
recognized
27. We express our concern for the Uyghur people of East Turkistan and recommend that
the UN establish a Working Group to investigate the serious allegations of mass
executions, torture and disappearance of Uyghur political and religious prisoners.
GENDER
28. All parties to armed conflict are requested to abide
by the rule laid down in the Rome Statute, and that States and the international
community should commit to combat all forms of racial discrimination and violations
of women's human rights especially during periods of armed conflict.
29. States are urged to conduct impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions
of in relation to rape or other forms of gendered crimes during conflict.
30. Expose and document rape as a war crime; undertake research and information
gathering as an instrument of the early warning system.
31. Education curriculum and armed forces (police) training to include: human rights
training, the culture of peace and gender sensitivity.
32. Teaching materials to remove stereotypes and historical biases, and strengthen the
teaching of the history of national and ethnic minorities, human migration, colonialism
and women's human rights. Issues for women with disabilities should be included in
public education to eliminate disability discrimination.
33. Promote programs which provide legal services to women and provide women with
education on human rights.
34. States to prevent and stop violations of human rights violations against documented
and undocumented migrants and migrant workers, including gender-based violence
and human rights violations committed against women migrants and migrant workers.
35. Urge states, multinational corporations, international financial institutions and
companies to prevent and eliminate racially discriminatory policies and practices,
recognising the gender-differentiated experiences of women and girls in access to
employment. Women with disabilities to be provided with appropriate health care
services and respect while accessing reproductive health services.
36. Partial interpretation of traditional, social and cultural beliefs and the misuse of religious
and traditional beliefs is the cause of racism, racial discrimination and related
intolerance.
37. States to promote and protect the health rights of women and girls, and provide access
to adequate maternal and reproductive health services, particularly women with
disabilities.
GLOBALISATION
38. We call upon the States to recognise that the exploitation of young peoples labour,
particularly those from indigenous and ethnic minorities and immigrant groups is
exacerbated by TNCs We urge States to protect their citizens by regulating these
practices.
39. We insist that a code of conduct be developed and implemented to recognise the value
of the contribution made by young people and to ensure the protection of their security
and livelihood.
40. We note with concern the punitive reaction of many governments to the growing
expression of community disquiet as to the discriminatory effects of globalisation and
urge them instead to support a democratic and anti-racist globality. We urge States to
ensure that their decision making processes in relation to these issues both take into
account and are accountable to the communities that they represent.
41. We urge governments to take whatever steps are appropriate to ensure that the
ownership of knowledge including territory medicines, biodiversity and culture by
indigenous peoples is officially recognised. We call upon States to enforce and protect
the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples, especially where the appropriation
of this knowledge and violation of these rights is an economic benefit to private
organisations.
42. We urge States to recognise the racial dimension inherent in the unequal distribution
of resources through the process of globalisation. The racial aspect of globalisation is
experienced at international, national and local levels and requires organised
preventative strategies at each of these levels.
43. We call upon the governments of the North to reinforce the means of financial aid to
southern countries to devote a proper part of the aid to minority communities for their
specific structural development and needs such as education, training, helath care and
housing.
44. Support "humanitarian business" calling for the presence of trained persons in
governmental and international institutions to enhance "corporate social responsibility".
HATE CRIMES
45. We urge states to extradite those guilty of hate crimes to face prosecution where
appropriate, regardless of nationality.
46. Develop policies and practices which encourage international protection for those
suffering from these heinous hate crimes. Monitor and provide effective measures to
ensure implementation of human rights laws and UN conventions against hate crimes
including sexual violence and promote policies and practices that delegitimize racist
hate propaganda and hate groups.
47. Encourage identification of the new issues within the UN, including to establish a
commission and rapporteur desk to inquire into the issues raised here such as ethnic
cleansing, ethnic conflicts, ideological and cultural Daliticide, hate crimes, and establish
offices in different areas of the world.
48. Consider more powerful means (such as embargoes, economic sanctions) of dealing
with recalcitrant states that continue to perpetrate hate crimes, ethnic cleansing and
genocide, and promote and require protection for those involved in religious
organizations operating in any oppressive conditions
49. Encourage the UN to set up and fully fund a body to deal with propaganda and media
distortion related to racism and racial discrimination, hate crimes, systematic ethnic
cleansing, and genocide. Also require that education and training about discrimination,
hate crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide is provided by governments and the UN to
enable the liberation of oppressed people and to increase understanding of these
heinous crimes in the international community, including requiring offices in the regions
outside Geneva and New York. Require the UN to monitor and agitate for this.
50. NGOs should agitate for national legislation to combat hate crimes and violence and
punish the perpetrators of such acts as well as push for a serious UN response to hate
crimes.
51. All political parties must promote inclusive policies and prohibit the use of negative
images of race, ethnicity, religion, language and caste.
52. 98 It is important to monitor education to ensure it is inclusive and prevents
perpetuation of discrimination and hate crimes and also to monitor media for
accusations, generalisations, stigmatization, stereotyping and bias of particular racial
and ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, castes, especially women, children, those
with disabilities, religious minorities and communities advocating for social change and
self determination other groups being targeted by hate crimes
53. NGOs must form a coalition with others suffering from discrimination to fight hate
crimes against members their own communities. It is important to get assistance, gain
knowledge and get advice from those in other countries who have already formed such
coalitions.
HEALTH - HIV/AIDS
54. Governments of the developed countries should assure that state of the art medical
and health related technology and knowledge is made accessible to developing
countries and implement measures to fulfill the right of everyone to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. All governments should
provide effective mechanisms to eliminate discrimination in their health care systems
and establish effective means of monitoring these systems.
55. Governments should promote and develop prevention and treatment programs for
diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect vulnerable groups such as sickle
cell anemia, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases. These programs
should be developed in conjunction with the private sector (particularly the medical
technology and pharmaceutical industry) and should pay special attention to diseases
and illnesses in developing countries and eliminate racism and other forms of
discrimination in their health care systems. [sentence on racism of international
pharmaceutical industry]
56. Governments, nongovernmental
organizations, the private sector and the international community, including
the World Health Organization, should routinely and systematically collect race,
gender and socioeconomic class data related to health status and health care
such data should not be limited to census and vital statistics but should include
data on access and quality particularly service delivery, diagnosis and treatment,
facility availability, provider availability and other related health activities
and services. Special attention should be placed on the impact of racial discrimination
and to the publication of the data, the results and the conclusion.
57. The Governments of the richest countries of the world
should contribute at least billion annually to the UN Global Health Fund
to develop and implement comprehensive programs of prevention, treatment and
community support to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious
disease.
58. In order to effectively address HIV/AIDS, governments must implement a
comprehensive, multi-sectoral program consisting of the mutually reinforcing
components of prevention, treatment, care, community support and health
infrastructure, including culturally sensitive educational programs and specific programs
aimed at reducing the vulnerability of women to HIV infection which include
encouraging citizens to engage in voluntary testing, and giving special attention to
developing countries and vulnerable groups.
59. Governments must direct efforts to eradicate rape and all forms of sexual violence
against women. Combating HIV/AIDS requires among other things that States eliminate
legal and practical discrimination against women and girls and prevent, investigate and
punish acts of violence and discrimination against women. In addition, in coordination
with women's rights and human rights groups, and other relevant members of civil
society, states should design, fund and implement programmes targeted at increasing
women's awareness of HIV/AIDS.
60. To ensure that young people have input in all decisions about their own health,
specifically about their sexual and reproductive health, and to provide free health care
services to those young people from marginalized groups.
61. Governments
should provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS Mother-to-child Transmission Programs
that are freely accessible to all. Such programs should involve informed consent,
pre and post - test counseling, treatment options, milk formula substitution,
and access to support groups.
62. Governments should set up mechanisms that assure the protection of vulnerable
groups who participate in research . Those mechanisms should include free and
informed consent but must also include other forms that protect vulnerable groups from
exploitation
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
63. Strongly recommend the adoption of the draft U.N. Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples approved by the Subcommission on the Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in its Resolution 1994/45. The draft O.A.S.
Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should be pursued and
adopted with the full and equal participation of Indigenous peoples, and must not
contemplate lesser rights than those contained in the U.N. Declaration. States must
recognize the collective rights of indigenous peoples.
64. Recommends the ratification by States of international conventions and agreements
protective of Indigenous rights, and we exhort those States that have not already
ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the
Genocide Convention and ILO Convention 169 to do so. States ratifying ILO
Convention 169 should, in consultation with Indigenous Peoples, seek to revise the
Convention to overcome the Convention's present deficiencies.
65. Any qualification of the right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination is racist and
is contrary to the fundamental principles of international law. The proposed caveat
paragraph (currently paragraph 27) of the official WCAR State Declaration is a
manifestation of racism against Indigenous Peoples and should be deleted in its
entirety.
66. Recommends that States examine their constitutions, law, legal systems, and policies
to identify and eradicate both explicit and inherent racism towards Indigenous Peoples
67. Recommend that States eliminate laws and policies that deny or limit Indigenous land
and resource rights, including rights to subsoil resources, and affirmatively recognize
Indigenous Peoples as the rightful owners and managers of their lands and resources.
States must take immediate and effective measures to end the devastation and
contamination of Indigenous waters, lands, territories and natural resources and the
dispossession and denial of access to these waters, lands, territories and natural
resources.
68. Demands that States provide appropriate remedies for breaches of rights and treaties.
Remedies for such breaches shall be determined with the full and equal participation
and consent of the Indigenous peoples involved. Conflicts and disputes which cannot
otherwise be settled should be submitted to competent international bodies.
69. Demands that all states immediately release all Indigenous political prisoners. States
must also recognize Indigenous justice systems and end discrimination in State
criminal and civil justice systems.
70. Calls upon States to recognize, respect and ensure mechanisms for the development
of traditional medicine, and ensure accessible and effective inter-cultural health
systems.
71. Urges States to commit financial resources to anti-racism education and media
campaigns to promote anti-racism awareness, the values of acceptance, tolerance,
diversity and respect for the cultures of all Indigenous Peoples. In particular, States
should strive to promote an accurate understanding of the histories and cultures of
Indigenous Peoples. States must ensure full access to inter-cultural education at all
levels.
72. Urges States to penalize degrading images of Indigenous Peoples, in particular
Indigenous women. States should guarantee to Indigenous Peoples access to the
media and assist in the development of Indigenous media.
73. Urges States to recognize the languages of Indigenous peoples and devote resources
and establish programs to ensure the survival, promotion, and continuation of such
languages. States, in agreement with Indigenous peoples, should design and
implement language and education policies that promote the right of Indigenous
peoples to assert their cultures and languages.
74. Demands that States take immediate and effective measures to end the devastation
and contamination of Indigenous waters, lands, territories and natural resources and
the dispossession and denial of access to these waters, lands, territories and natural
resources. Environmental racism specifically affects Indigenous Peoples' traditional
means of subsistence, their cultural and spiritual practices, and their sacred and
historical sites.
75. Recommends that Indigenous governments and States along with indigenous women
and with their full and equal participation, develop programs to promote their civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights; to end disadvantage due to gender and
race; to address urgent problems affecting them in all areas of life, including education
and employment, health and disability , traditional knowledge, justice, environment and
biodiversity; and to end policies of forced sterilization and the use of violence in the
public and private spheres.
76. Calls upon States to end the militarization of Indigenous Peoples' lands and territories
and the forced relocation of Indigenous Peoples. The grave situation of the
militarization of Indigenous lands and territories, and resultant massive violation of their
civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights must end. States have a duty to
restore lands already contaminated through military use.
77. In all measures to be taken by States that may affect Indigenous Peoples there must
be full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples. Consultation on an equal
basis must be undertaken by the State with the Indigenous Peoples affected and such
measures must not be implemented without their free and informed consent.
78. Indigenous Peoples freely express their own identity and exercise their inherent rights
free from all forms of discrimination, which necessarily entails respect for their human
rights and fundamental freedoms. Efforts are now being made to secure universal
recognition for those rights in processes in the U.N. and the Organization of American
States to elaborate declarations on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, which include the
following: to denominate themselves under their own names as a collective; to
participate freely and on an equal footing with a State's political, economic, social and
cultural development; to maintain their own forms of organization, lifeways, cultures and
traditions; to maintain and use their own languages and names; to maintain their own
legal and economic structures in the areas where we live; to take part in the
development of their educational and health systems and programmes; to manage and
develop their lands and natural resources, including hunting, gathering and fishing
rights; and to have access to justice on a basis of equality, recognizing their own forms
of administration of justice.
79. Calls for a U.N. World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
80. Recommends that the U.N. complete, in coordination with Indigenous Peoples, a
comprehensive review of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples.
81. Urges States and financial and development institutions to mitigate the negative effects
of globalization by examining how their polices and practices affect Indigenous
Peoples, and to ensure that their policies and practices conform to human rights
standards and contribute to the eradication of racism by including the participation of
Indigenous Peoples in development projects in accordance with the principle of
informed consent and Indigenous self-government; by democratizing international
financial institutions; by developing enforceable codes of conduct for transnational
corporations; and by consulting with Indigenous Peoples in any matter that may affect
their physical, spiritual or cultural integrity.
82. Recommends that the U.N. effectively implement the Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Peoples, respecting the processes of the Indigenous Peoples in making nominations
to the Forum. This should be done in the following manner:
83. The U.N. should provide sufficient additional funding to carry out the mandate of the
forum.
84. The President of ECOSOC should establish an autonomous Secretariat including
Indigenous participation in the Secretariat.
85. The U.N. should provide full financial support and resources to the Special Rapporteur
on Indigenous Peoples.
LABOUR
86. Racism requires systematic responses at all levels. These responses must be
developed recognizing the central role of those effected by racism and the need to be
measurable and monitored for impact. These responses must include the ratification
and implementation of existing international norms, in particular the UN Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the UN Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; ILO
Convention 111 and other core labour standards, C169 (Indigenous and Tribal People
Convention), C143 (Migrant Workers Convention) and the Declaration of Fundamental
Principles and Rights.
87. Legal Measures to combat racism and gender discrimination must also include specific
attention to employment rights including pay equity and assurances that all workers
have recourse to labour law protections. The burden of proof in race discrimination
litigation should also lay with those accused of racism.
88. Effect improved gathering of data for the more effective policy formulation and strategic
planning particularly in the field of employment, access to social provision and services
including housing, education, health etc. This information and consequent policy
development should be systematically shared at regional and international levels.
89. Education, both formal and informal, is one of the cornerstones of the strategies
required to eliminate racism in the workplace and in society as a whole. Education
strategies must include detailed and measurable plans by both governments and
NGOs.
90. Governments must prioritise financial resources to ensure that anti racism education
is an integrated and core part of the curriculum within schools. This should be alongside
measures which should be taken to ensure that teachers are more reflective of the
communities which they represent. Governments should require schools to develop
comprehensive and measurable anti racist plans of action which include monitoring
arrangements to identify progress.
91. Governments must prioritise financial resources, for NGOs, to support anti racism
education programmes and initiatives. These programmes should include education
programmes in the workplace.
92. A central part of the process of the Durban plan of action, and follow up, must be a
comprehensive process of monitoring the change process. Trade unions and other
NGOs must be a comprehensive process of monitoring the change process. Trade
unions and other NOGOs must be an integral part of this process. Therefore
mechanisms for ensuring the involvement of NGOs and, in particular, those effected
by racism, must be established by governments and subject to regular reports.
93. NGOs must establish mechanisms for ensuring that the follow up to the Conference
can be co-ordinated and fed through the structures established through discussion with
governments.
94. Governments must prioritise resources to support NGOs in the follow up process to the
Conference. The allocation of resources should prioritise the need to involve those who
are directly effected by racism.
DOCUMENTED AND UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS, MIGRANT WORKERS,
REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS, STATELESS, DISPLACED PERSONS AND
MEMBERS OF THEIR FAMILIES
95. Effectively keep and use disaggregated statistics to assess the complexities of
modern migration patterns.
96. Eliminate discriminatory treatment by public authorities, in particular police, other
law enforcement officers, immigration officers as well as de facto immigration
officials such as airport and airline employees, of persons from countries of
immigration, asylum seekers and undocumented persons and to ensure that these
groups are provided with necessary information and legal assistance in the event
of torture, ill treatment or any kind of violence perpetrated on the basis of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
97. Provide gender-sensitive human rights education and anti-racism training
programmes for key professionals frequently in contact with immigrants and asylum
seekers, including customs and immigration officials.
98. Provide education and capacity building for refugees, asylum seekers, documented
and undocumented migrant workers and migrants on their rights, responsibilities,
and avenues for redress.
99. Recognize the professions, qualifications, titles, and degrees of refugees, asylum
seekers, and migrant workers, during the period in which they are waiting for
legalisation of their status.
100. Recognize and give value to foreign-trained and foreign-educated migrants,
migrant workers, refugees, and asylum seekers, stateless and internally displaced
persons thereby enabling them to use and improve their skills.
Documented and Undocumented Migrants, Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families
101. Ensure the protection of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights,
including the right to free mobility and assembly, the access to social services,
health care, education, political participation, including voting rights at all levels, of
documented and undocumented migrants, migrant workers and members of their
families and to enact and enforce legislation and policies in this respect without
delay.
102. Initiate and review policies and regulations that facilitate the regularization
and decriminalisation of undocumented migrants, and in the meantime ensure
respect for their non-derogable human rights and freedoms, including the right to
life, the right not to be tortured, the right to equal access to justice and to
security, as well as to other basic rights such as, their right to education, housing,
health (with due attention to persons with disabilities), living wages, employment,
access to culture and the environment without fear of arbitrary detention and
summary deportation.
103. Actively promote and support self-initiatives and non-governmental
organizations working to organize and unionize documented and undocumented
migrants and migrant workers, allocate sufficient resources, especially to women's
groups, to build their capacities to more effectively address human rights violations
within their community.
104. Protect the equal rights of migrant women who are particularly vulnerable
to violence, including sexual and domestic violence and other forms of abuse,
ensure free and full access to remedies for human rights violations and grant them
their own independent status in all immigration and migration matters.
105. Recognize the particular vulnerability of migrant and refugee children,
particularly unaccompanied and abandoned children, and appoint qualified
guardians to children separated from their parents or otherwise unaccompanied by
a responsible adult. Furthermore grant citizenship to children of migrant workers in
the receiving countries.
106. Recognise that there are diverse ways to establish family relationships and
grant and facilitate entry for purposes of family reunification and ensure that, once
admitted, family members enjoy secure and independent residence status, including
the full enjoyment of social, economic, cultural, civil and political rights.
107. Develop
and implement effective gender-sensitive measures and programmes to ensure that
the human rights of foreign domestic workers are protected from any form of
discrimination, violence, physical and sexual abuse the rights in respect to
their trade-unions, professional and technical associations, as well as the
rights to fair remuneration are guaranteed and implemented, including to right
to redress mechanisms for these rights.
Establish policies
that will hold sending and receiving country governments accountable while also
enabling them to monitor the activities of non-state agencies such as private
recruitment agencies and syndicates.
Refugees,
Asylum Seekers, Stateless and Displaced Persons
108. Develop programmes and measures for refugees and asylum seekers,
with particular attention to women, children, persons with disability and the elderly,
that adhere to and are guided by the right of everyone to seek and enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution' as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, and ensure the implementation of national legislation and policies
in relation to refugees and asylum seekers be based on a full and inclusive
application of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Optional Protocol relating to the
Status of Refugees in light of its object and purpose, in particular the Convention's
Article 3 on non-discrimination and the full respect of the principle of 'non-refoulement', as well as all relevant regional Conventions on the protection of
human rights.
109. Implement the United Nations Guidelines for Internal Displacement and
ensure that national governments, in collaboration with international governmental
and non-governmental agencies provide adequate statistics on internally displaced
persons.
110. Review current national legislation and measures and refrain from
introducing any further measures which may be contrary to the spirit of the 1951
Convention and its 1967 Protocol and can prevent refugees from accessing
protection such as visa regimes, restrictive interpretation of the Convention, posting
of screening officers in countries of origins and airports, detention of asylum
seekers, carriers' sanctions, readmission and involuntary repatriation practices, and
'safe third country' practices.
111. Ensure that legislation and policies take due account of and abide by the
legal interpretations, policy directives, guidelines and recommendations of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and recognize the role
of this body as guarantor of the correct application of the 1951 Convention.
112. Acknowledge
that persecution motivated by racism, racial discrimination and ethnicity can
include the specific targeting of women and recognize this as a basis for granting
asylum and eliminate limitations on the right of women to transmit their nationality
to their children, on an equal basis with men.
113. Respect
and implement the economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights of
refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons.
114. Ensure that
children of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons are immediately
registered at birth, to suppress instances of statelessness and ulterior related
discrimination.
115. Take immediate
measures to correct the systemic and structural imbalances in burden sharing,
resource allocation and sharing of responsibilities in hosting and giving assistance
to refugees in all parts of the world.
116. Terminate the covert and overt discriminatory practices undergirding the
imbalanced response to humanitarian assistance in the various world regions, and
between refugee groups, with due respect to the specific needs of refugees in
refugee camps, shelters or other housing facilities while providing for their
integration or volunteer resettlement to the country of origin and also enabling them
to reach their families in other countries of arrival while they are waiting for
recognition of their refugee status.
PALESTINIANS AND PALESTINE
117. Call for the immediate enforcement of international humanitarian law,
specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories through the adoption of all measures to ensure its enforcement including
all measures employed against the South African Apartheid regime. Call for the
immediate convening of the High Contracting Parties to implement this process in
fulfillment of their obligation to ensure respect for the Convention in all
circumstances. Also call for the immediate deployment of an independent, effective
international protection force for Palestinian civilians and the dismantlement of the
illegal Jewish Israeli colonies (settlements) and a complete withdrawal of the
colonial military occupation.
118. Call upon the United Nations to ensure the implementation of the various
UN resolutions on the Occupied Palestinian Territories including the withdrawal of
the Israeli colonial military occupation (of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,
including Jerusalem), the right of return for refugees, and for the protection for
refugees of the UN High Commission for Refugees until such time as they may be
able to exercise their right to return and in accordance with UN resolution 194. Also
call for the reinstitution of UN resolution 3379 determining the practices of Zionism
as racist practices which propagate the racial domination of one group over another
through the implementation of all measures designed to drive out other indigenous
groups, including through colonial expansionism in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories (in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, including Jerusalem), and through the
application of discriminatory laws of return and citizenship, to obliterate their national
identity and to maintain the exclusive nature of the State of Israel as a Jewish state
to the exclusion of all other groups. Also call for the repeal of all discriminatory laws
within the state of Israel, including those of return and citizenship, which are part of
the institutionalized racism and Apartheid regime in Israel.
119. Call for the establishment of a war crimes tribunal to investigate and bring
to justice those who may be guilty of war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic
cleansing and the crime of Apartheid which amount to crimes against humanity that
have been or continue to be perpetrated in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
120. Call for an increased awareness of the root causes of the Israel's
belligerent occupation and systematic human rights violations as a racist, apartheid
system, through relevant UN agencies working closely with international civil society
networks to widely disseminate information including educational packs for schools
and universities, films and publications.
121. Call for the establishment of a UN Special Committee on Apartheid and
Other Racist Crimes Against Humanity perpetrated by the Israeli Apartheid regime
to monitor and to report Apartheid and other racist crimes, and to recommend the
implementation of measures to combat Apartheid and other racist crimes.
122. Call for the establishment of programmes and institutions to combat the
racist media distortion, stereotyping and propaganda, including the demonizing and
dehumanizing of Palestinians as all being violent and terrorists, and undeserving of
human rights protections. Call for the correction of misleading information
surrounding their status as indigenous peoples, the history of the violations
perpetrated against them, and the on-going distortion of the facts and nature of the
peace negotiations.
123. Call for the launch of an international anti Israeli Apartheid movement as
implemented against South African Apartheid through a global solidarity campaign
network of international civil society, UN bodies and agencies, business
communities and to end the conspiracy of silence among states, particularly the
European Union and the United States.
124. Call upon the international community to impose a policy of complete and
total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state as in the case of South Africa which
means the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes,
the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation
and training) between all states and Israel. Call upon the Government of South
Africa to take the lead in this policy of isolation, bearing in mind its own historical
success in countering the undermining policy of "constructive engagement" with its
own past Apartheid regime.
125. Condemnation of those states who are supporting, aiding and abetting the
Israeli Apartheid state and its perpetration of racist crimes against humanity
including ethnic cleansing, acts of genocide.
TIBET
We call on all states to exert pressure on the Chinese government to open negotiations
with the Tibetan government in exile, headed by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai
Lama, in order to find a mutually acceptable and lasting solution to the situation in Tibet.
We also call for the implementation of the UN General Assembly resolutions on Tibet
passed in 1959, 1961 and 1965, affirming the right to self-determination of the Tibetan
peoples and for the creation of mechanisms to resolve the foreign occupation of Tibet.
We call upon all States and governments to urge the Chinese government to begin the
process of compensating the Tibetan peoples, for the destruction of their religious sites,
religion, culture and environment over the past five decades. This process should
include compensation for the loss of Tibetan natural resources, taking the form of
timber, wildlife products, mineral resources and Tibetan artifacts.
The curtailment of religious freedom through severe restrictions and systematic attack
on their religious institutions has resulted in the 'religious cleansing' of the Tibetan
peoples.
RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE
126. Welcome the initiative of the UN Secretary General in convening the Millenium
Peace Summit for World Spiritual and Religious Leaders in celebration of the 20th
anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance
Based on Religion or Belief and looking forward to its full implementation by all
States.
127. Religious intolerance has often exacerbated systemic discrimination and racism
resulting in racial violence and intersectional systems of oppression based on, but
not limited to, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, class and economic
status, HIV/AIDS and health related issues and abilities;
128. All States should guarantee the right to freedom of expression, thought,
conscience, religion and belief without any distinction, exclusion or restriction or
preference and that States are obliged to protect the right of individuals and groups
to profess and practice their own religion or belief as well as to ensure their right to
effectively participate in civil, political, economic, social and cultural life.
129. All States are encouraged to adopt legislation, policies and measures that fulfill
the requirements of N human rights instruments concerning freedom of religion or
belief and to employ effective mechanisms that ensure their implementation and
review national legislation that is discriminatory to religious minorities.
130. All States are encouraged to fully cooperate with the competent UN mechanisms
in this field and particularly to extend an open invitation to the UN Special
Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance and to provide the Special Rapporteur with
their full support, cooperation including access to minority religious communities and
individuals.
131. The UN Commission on Human Rights is to be requested to establish a
monitoring unit on religious intolerance within the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights and in cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on Religious
Intolerance and that such a unit is to be adequately staffed and funded.
132. All States should take effective measures against politicization of religious
institutions as well as other areas of social and economic life, as this may lead to
marginalizing dissenting religious communities and individuals, and they should
particularly ensure that women's basic human rights are not denied or in any way
limited by the use of religion or belief.
133. All States are called upon to refrain from the perpetration of religion-based
intolerance and discrimination, including when linked to race, through a systematic
stereotyping of religious minorities in the media, educational curricula and textbooks
leading to their further marginalization and distortions.
134. Religious communities and leaders are called upon to play a positive role in
bringing spiritual and ethical insights and a commitment to education to effect and
promote reconciliation, healing and liberation to address historical and present day
inequalities and discrimination;
ROMA PEOPLE
135. We urge the United Nations to elaborate and propose for adoption to its
members states legally binding instruments on the Roma rights, such as an
International Charter on Roma Rights, in order to protect and guarantee the
collective rights of the Roma people.
136. We urge the United Nations to provide adequate Roma representation in
relevant internaoitnal and intergovernmental organizations by receiving seats in the
United Nations as elected representatives of the Roma, on equal footing with the
other nations of the world.
137. We recommend the United Nations and other regional bodies to provide for
adequate Roma representation in relevant international, regional and
intergovernmental organizations by receiving seats in the United Nations as elected
representatives of the Roma.
138. We call upon governments to review, adopt, strengthen and enforce national
legislation prohibiting racial discrimination against Roma as well as to adopt and
implement affirmative action policies for Roma in employment, education, housing,
social security and healthcare services, in order to protect the members of these
communities and to prevent and punish such practices. Furthermore, appropriate
monitoring bodies, with a local network, need to be established to ensure that
governments fullfil their human rights obligations.
139. We recommend States to include the issue of combating racial discrimination
against Roma as one of the major topics in bilateral and multilateral treaties.
140. We urge the United Nations, Council of Europe, and the Organisation of
American States to establish under thier jurisdiction, a Permanent Roma Forum, as
a body of elected representatives, which shall monitor and report on the Roma
situation in the world and on the implementation of international standards
addressing the Roma issue.
141. We welcome the CERD General Recommendation XXVII „Discrimination on
Roma" and urge governments to implement these recommenations.
142. We urge governments to ensure the institutional development and full
participation to central and local administration, to ensure the right to free
movement of the Roma, to support the preservation and development of the
Roma cultural identity, and to provide adequate camping places with all necesary
facilities for those Roma who preserve the nomadic life-style.
143. We urge Governments to take concrete measures and support the full
development of the Roma children and youth positive self-esteem, the
deconstruction of their internalized stigma and the Roma identity awareness, by
establishing identity assertive education institutions and by promoting the Roma
history, Romani as teaching language and ethnic assertion education programs in
the mainstream school.
144. We call upon States to provide the Roma children with equal access to quality
education by the desegregation of the schooling system, by enabling Roma parents
to take part to school processes and decision; by training and employing Roma
teachers and school mediators; and by the development of a more sensitive,
inclusive and flexible education systems and school curricula, including non-formal
education and distance education, internet classes in places for encampment.
145. We urge governments to fully support the intercultural education, including the
provision of adequate funding, for the inclusion of the Roma history in text books
and school curricula.
146. We strongly urge governments to draw lessons from history, to acknowledge
and publicly condemn the Roma slavery and the German Holocaust against
Roma during the Second World War, and we also call upon States which are
responsible of these crimes against humanity to fully assume their responsibility,
to provide public appology and prompt, adequate and fair reparation and
compensation to Roma communities and individuals who were victims of such
policies and practices.
147. We urge the United Nations to use its influence to immediately stop the Germany
policy of Roma deportation to Former Yugoslavia, a region of ethnic cleansing and
war.
148. We urge States and inter-governamental bodies to immediately call upon the
involved forces to stop the genocide and the ethnic cleansing against Roma in
countries where it takes place. Beginning in 1999, Roma were ethnically
cleanesed from Kosovo by ethnic Albanians. Kosovo is the worst catastrophy for
Roma since the Holocaust.
TRAVELLERS
States and Governments should pay particular attention to and adopt immediate and
concrete measures to eradicate the widespread discrimination and persecution
targeting Travellers including through the establishment of structures and processes,
in partnership between the public authorities and representatives of the Traveller
Communities.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
149. Revise existing human rights instruments and ensure the explicit incorporation
of the respect for, protection, promotion, and fulfillment of self-determined
sexual orientation and gender identity; and take immediate steps to implement
all four core responsibilities incumbent on all governments with regard to human
rights, both civil and political rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights: to
respect these rights, that is not to violate them directly; to protect these rights,
that is to ensure that they are not violated by other parties; to promote tolerance
and awareness of these rights; and to fulfill these rights, that is to ensure that all
persons have the conditions and resources to enjoy these rights freely, fully, and
equally.
150. Develop an International
Reparations Instrument in accordance with universally recognised human rights
norms, whereby all groups and individuals, regardless of race, gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, age, religion, culture, language, disability,
economic status, political opinion or national origin who have fallen victim
of human rights violations, and in particular discrimination, have the right
to reparation.
151. Enact in their Constitutions, clauses guaranteeing non-discrimination and the
enjoyment of all individual and collective rights by all persons regardless or race,
age, gender, sex, gender identity, sex, ethnic or social origin, sexual orientation,
disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.
152. Anti-discrimination policies should be based on the principle of
mainstreaming the issue of combating unfair discrimination by including into all
stages of decision-making:
· guidelines
· participation of target groups
· positive actions
· implementation mechanisms
· monitoring and impact assessment
· review of policies
· time frames
· measurable goals
· resource allocation
·
transparent accountability mechanisms
11. Extend and strengthen programmes on the prevention of HIV/AIDS, including
educational programmes that are sensitive to diversity of genders, sexual
orientation, and cultures.
12. Pursue educational policies that include cultural, racial and sexual diversity; and
that recover the historical contribution of women in the development of their
peoples, communities and nations.
13. Revise ILO Convention 111 to include sexual orientation as a ground
protected from discrimination.
14. Convene a UN World Conference on discrimination based on sexual
orientation and gender identity.
15. Draft a declaration for the elimination of all forms of discrimination
based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
16. Repeal those laws that criminalize consensual same-sex relations.
17. Be created and operated with the participation and representation of
all affected populations and peoples.
18. All States develop immigration laws and policies that recognize and
protect refugees and asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution on the basis
of their gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
TRAFFICKING
19. We call on governments
to address their accountability in the growth of sex tourism and to take measures
to prevent trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation, and to promote and
ensure effective legal remedies.
20. We call on governments to recognize the long-term psychological harms of
trafficking and channel resources for the support of victims including counselling,
education, health, shelter, voluntary repatriation/resident status and live hold.
21. We call on all states and governments to address the different treatment of
trafficked persons, especially women and children of marginalized groups, in
terms of protection, recognizing that trafficked persons experience multiple
discrimination.
22. We call on all states and governments to ratify and implement all international
and regional instruments relevant to trafficking in persons, and enact and
implement national legislation, making consent of victims irrelevant, targeting
and prosecuting all actors who profit and gain from trafficking to prostitution,
including buyers.
23. We call on all states and governments to recognize the accountability of military
forces in trafficking, particularly in the U.S. bases and the U.N. peacekeeping
forces.
24. We call on all states to establish policies to limit and monitor the activities of
non-states agencies such as recruitment agencies.
25. Implement policies and the necessary legislation prohibiting trafficking of
persons. These policies should:
· Be developed as regional policies;
· Provide the appropriate resource allocation for enforcement;
· Pay particular attention to the trafficking of children, women for sexual
exploitation, debt bondage and exploitative working conditions;
· Assist the victims of trafficking; and
· Elaborate harsh punitive measures for trafficking syndicates
· Ratify the UN Trafficking Protocol,
attached to the main convention on transnational organized crime, Stockholm
agenda for action (Addressing sexual Exploration of Children)
YOUNG PEOPLE, CHILDREN AND THE GIRL CHILD
8. We call on all states and governments to introduce compulsory anti-racism content with an intersectional analysis in the school curriculum and
orientate teachers to promote anti-racism and self and mutual respect amongst
all race and ethnic groups. Furthermore, to consult and allow children, young
people, their caretakers and their families to participate in and influence the
ongoing racial equality aspects of teacher training so as to promote public
awareness, embracing and promoting cultural diversity and respect for human
rights.
9. We call on all states and governments to improve reporting at the
national level on racial and caste discrimination and its effects on children and
young people, by actively collecting detail disaggregated and gendered
statistical data on issues that affect children and young people. States should
also support the involvement of children and young people in such a process.
In addition, states should encourage national and international human rights
institutions and NGOs to do the same and make such information available (and
place greater emphasis on children and young people) in reports to CERD and
other relevant treaty bodies.
We call on all states to ratify the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) which prohibits the enrolment of children under the age of 18 into
the armed forces and for all states and the UN to ensure its enforcement.
10. Urge governments to allow children, adolescents and youth to be
conscientious objectors as a right to voluntary participation in any category of the
military field, without risking loss of citizenship rights or social, penal or military
coercion.
11. Utilising existing structures, such as the UN Youth unit, to create
effective new and existing networks that encourage, develop and sustain the
talents of all children and young people. The States should ensure that young
people are greatly supported in participating in the development and
implementation of the five year review of the WCAR and will be encouraged,
resourced and supported to contribute to the elimination of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, both at international and
domestic levels, emphasizing the value of children's and young peoples'
experience and encouraging exchange programs that allow all children and
young people to work with their peers from all over the world, in order to
enhance international bonds of solidarity.
12. Urge States, governments and communities to implement the
recommendations of the regional seminar of experts on Racial and ethnic
conflict prevention in Africa, held in Addis Abbaba in October 2000, with
particular attention to the implementation of the rights of the girl child to live
within the family, to grow in good health, to access health services, to be
provided quality education and play an active role within the community.
13. Urge all states and governments to develop a gendered approach in
school curricula, which include references on the specificity of the girl child.
Posted on 2001-10-03
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