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.
DECLARATION
OF THE NGO FORUM
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
189.
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.
190.
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.
191.
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
192.
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.
193.
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.
194.
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:
195.
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.
196.
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.
197.
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.
198.
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.
199.
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.
200.
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.
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PART C-2 |
We
the NGO Forum :
201.
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
202.
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.
203.
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
204.
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.
205.
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.
206.
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.
207.
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.
208.
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:
209. 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.
210. 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.
211. Recognizing the value and importance of the binding general comments issued by ICERD, we call upon States to:
212. 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.
213. Implement Art. 7 of ICERD, which targets education as an essential, mean for combating racism.
214. 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.
215. 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.
216. Request that State reports to CERD should include race and sex disaggregated data on the impact and effect of the adopted legislation.
217. 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.
218. 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
219. 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...
220.
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.
221.
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.
222.
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.
223.
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
224. Ensure that, in accordance with International Human rights standards, all groups and persons whose rights have been violated have access to reparation.
225.
Ensure
the protection of persons or organizations that lay complaints and report
incidents of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
226. 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.
227.
Urge
States to adopt policies to ensure that public funds are provided only to
organizations that have non-discrimination policies.
228.
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.
229.
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.
230.
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.
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AFRICAN
AND AFRICAN DESCENDANTS
231.
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.
232.
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.
233.
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
234. 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.
235.
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.
236.
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.
237.
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:
238.
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;
239.
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;
240.
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:
241.
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;
242.
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;
243.
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;
244.
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;
245.
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;
246.
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;
247.
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
248.
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,
249.
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
250.
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.
251.
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.
252. 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.
253.
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.
254.
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
255. 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.
256.
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.
257.
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.
258.
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.
259.
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.
260.
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.
261.
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.
262.
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.
263. 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.
264.
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.
265.
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.
266.
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.
267.
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
270.
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.
271.
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.
275.
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.
276.
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.
278.
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
279.
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.
280. 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
281.
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.
282. 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.
283.
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.
284.
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.
285.
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.
286.
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.
287.
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.
288.
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
289.
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.
290.
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.
291.
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.
292. 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.
293.
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.
294.
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.
295.
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.
296.
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.
297.
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.
298.
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.
299.
Promote
adult education for the public at large, addressing the question of functional
illiteracy in minority languages.
300.
Efforts
must be made for the systematic collection of data for planning and evaluation,
disaggregated by race on educational quality and achievement.
301.
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:
302.
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.
303.
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.
304.
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.
305.
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:
306.
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.
307.
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.
308.
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.
309.
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.
310.
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
311.
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.
312.
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.
313.
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.
314.
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
315.
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.
316.
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.
317.
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.
318.
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.
319.
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.
320.
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.
321.
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.
322.
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.
323.
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.
324.
We
call for the establishment of regional systems for the protection of
ethnic and national groups where they do not currently exist.
325.
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.
326.
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.
327.
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
328.
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
329.
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.
330.
States
are urged to conduct impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions
of in relation to rape or other forms of gendered crimes during conflict.
331.
Expose
and document rape as a war crime; undertake research and information gathering
as an instrument of the early warning system.
332.
Education
curriculum and armed forces (police) training to include: human rights training,
the culture of peace and gender sensitivity.
333.
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.
334.
Promote
programs which provide legal services to women and provide women with education
on human rights.
335.
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.
336.
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.
337.
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.
338.
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
339. 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.
340. 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.
341. 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.
342. 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.
343. 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.
344. 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.
345.
Support
"humanitarian business" calling for the presence of trained persons in
governmental and international institutions to enhance "corporate social
responsibility".
HATE
CRIMES
346.
We
urge states to extradite those guilty of hate crimes to face prosecution where
appropriate, regardless of nationality.
347.
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.
348.
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.
349.
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
350.
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.
351.
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.
352.
All
political parties must promote inclusive policies and prohibit the use of
negative images of race, ethnicity, religion, language and caste.
353.
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
354.
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
355.
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.
356.
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]
357. 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.
358.
The
Governments of the richest countries of the world should contribute at least $10
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.
359.
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.
360.
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.
361.
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.
362.
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.
363.
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
364.
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.
365.
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.
366.
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.
367.
Recommends
that States examine their constitutions, law, legal systems, and policies to
identify and eradicate both explicit and inherent racism towards Indigenous
Peoples
368.
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.
369.
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.
370.
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.
371.
Calls
upon States to recognize, respect and ensure mechanisms for the development of
traditional medicine, and ensure accessible and effective inter-cultural health
systems.
372.
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.
373.
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.
374.
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.
375.
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.
376.
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.
377.
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.
378.
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.
379.
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.
380.
Calls
for a U.N. World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.
381.
Recommends
that the U.N. complete, in coordination with Indigenous Peoples, a comprehensive
review of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
382.
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.
383.
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:
384.
The
U.N. should provide sufficient additional funding to carry out the mandate of
the forum.
385.
The
President of ECOSOC should establish an autonomous Secretariat including
Indigenous participation in the Secretariat.
386.
The
U.N. should provide full financial
support and resources to the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples.
LABOUR
387.
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.
388.
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.
389.
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.
390.
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.
391.
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.
392.
Governments
must prioritise financial resources, for NGOs, to support anti racism education
programmes and initiatives. These programmes should include education programmes
in the workplace.
393.
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.
394.
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.
395.
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
396. Effectively keep and use disaggregated statistics to assess the complexities of modern migration patterns.
397.
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.
398.
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.
399.
Provide
education and capacity building for refugees, asylum seekers, documented and
undocumented migrant workers and migrants on their rights, responsibilities, and
avenues for redress.
400.
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.
401. 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
402.
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.
403.
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.
404.
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.
405.
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.
406.
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.
407.
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.
408.
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
409.
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.
410.
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.
411.
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.
412.
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.
413.
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.
414.
Respect and
implement the economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights of
refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons.
415.
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.
416.
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.
417.
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
418.
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.
419.
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.
420.
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.
421.
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.
422.
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.
423.
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.
424.
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.
425.
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.
426.
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.
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
427.
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.
428.
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;
429.
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.
430.
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.
431.
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.
432.
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.
433.
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.
434.
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.
435.
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
436.
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.
437.
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.
438.
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.
439.
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.
440.
We
recommend States to
include the issue of combating racial discrimination against Roma as one of the
major topics in bilateral and multilateral treaties.
441.
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.
442.
We
welcome the CERD General Recommendation XXVII „Discrimination on Roma” and
urge governments to implement these recommenations.
443.
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.
444.
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.
445.
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.
446.
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.
447.
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.
448.
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.
449.
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
450. 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.
451. 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.
452. 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.
453.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
454. Extend and strengthen programmes on the prevention of HIV/AIDS, including educational programmes that are sensitive to diversity of genders, sexual orientation, and cultures.
455. 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.
456. Revise ILO Convention 111 to include sexual orientation as a ground protected from discrimination.
457. Convene a UN World Conference on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
458. Draft a declaration for the elimination of all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
459. Repeal those laws that criminalize consensual same-sex relations.
460. Be created and operated with the participation and representation of all affected populations and peoples.
461. 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
462. 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.
463.
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.
464.
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.
465.
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.
466.
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.
467.
We
call on all states to establish policies to limit and monitor the activities of
non-states agencies such as recruitment agencies.
468.
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
469. 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.
470. 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.
471. 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.
472. 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.
473. 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.
474.
Urge all states and governments to develop a
gendered approach in school curricula, which include references on the
specificity of the girl child.