March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
“Any doctrine of racial superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous and must be rejected together with theories that attempt to determine the existence of separate human races.”
The above statement is enshrined in the United Nations Principle of Equality and is reflected in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination adopted in December of 1965.
Given the racial injustice that existed in so many of the United Nations member states at the time, including the so-called advanced Western nations where struggles were taking place for racial equality and civil rights, it is not surprising that the issue of racial equality continued to find expression in United Nations documents and proclamations, from the International Convention of 1965 to the present day.
Many member states did little but pay lip service to the principles expressed in the UN documents. For this reason, in November 1978 the General Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization included the following in its final statement in its preamble:
“Noting with the gravest concern that racism, racial discrimination, colonialism and apartheid continue to afflict the world in ever-changing forms, as a result both of the continuation of legislative provisions and government and administrative practices contrary to the principles of human rights and also of the continued existence of political and social structures, and of relationships and attitudes, characterized by injustice and contempt for human beings and leading to the exclusion, humiliation and exploitation, or to the forced assimilation, of the members of disadvantaged groups.”
Article 3 of the final statement affirms:
“Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, ethnic or national origin or religious intolerance motivated by racist considerations, which destroys or compromises the sovereign equality of States and the right of peoples to self-determination, or which limits in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner the right of every human being and group to full development is incompatible with the requirements of an international order which is just and guarantees respect for human rights; the right to full development implies equal access to the means of personal and collective advancement and fulfilment in a climate of respect for the values of civilizations and cultures, both national and world-wide.”
The efforts of the United Nations to meet these requirements have continued since that first Convention in 1965, dedicated to the elimination of racism.
In 1973 the UN declared a Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. Halfway through that decade (August 1978) it held a conference in Geneva, following which the General Assembly passed a comprehensive resolution to affirm its support for the Programme for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination which includes the following points:
- Proclaims that the elimination of all forms of racism and discrimination based on race and the attainment of the objectives of the Programme for the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and of the Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination are matters of high priority for the international community and, accordingly, for the United Nations;
- Strongly condemns the policies of apartheid, racism and racial discrimination practised in southern Africa and elsewhere, including the denial of the right of peoples to self-determination;
- Reaffirms once again its strong support for the national liberation struggle against racism, racial discrimination, apartheid, colonialism and alien domination and for self-determination by all means, including armed struggle.
In 1979, the United Nations declared a week of solidarity with peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination beginning on March 21. The date marked the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, when South African police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid “pass laws” killing 69 protesters. March 21 was designated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
The goal of a world in which all peoples are equal still eludes humanity, and the struggle to end racism continues, along with the need to identify more specifically the victims of racism. In 2007, the UN adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which references the further burden of colonialism and the forced dispossession of land and resources. Like earlier Declarations, UNDRIP is extensive, well researched and comprehensive.
Since October 2023 and going back decades, Israel’s racist regime has carried out a genocidal war against the Palestinian people. Israel has violated international law in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon in a myriad of ways including the establishment of settlements in occupied territories, apartheid within Israel, ethnic cleansing in all of Palestine and of course, genocide.
In Canada, migrant workers were denied equal treatment before the law. International students were scapegoated for a housing crisis of which they were victims not the cause. Supporters of the rights of the Palestinian people have been verbally, sometimes physically abused, and some lost their jobs or their student placement. The cost-of-living crisis extracted a greater toll on those living near or below the poverty line and a disproportionate number of those people are from communities marginalized by racism.
The Communist Party of Canada calls on all progressive forces to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to publicly acknowledge that the scourge of racism has not been eradicated in Canada or around the world and that we must all continue the struggle to overcome this criminal legacy – for the rights of the victims of racism, for the health of our communities and in the interest of world peace.
Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada
Emphasis to quotes has been added
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