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Int'l Day of Racial Discrimination Elimination (21 March) - UN Chief | United Nations

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Video message from António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Humanity, not racism The 2024 theme of the International Day is “A Decade of Recognition, Justice, and Development: Implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent”. Racial discrimination and the legacies of slavery and colonialism continue to destroy lives and curtail opportunities, preventing billions of people from enjoying their full human rights and freedoms.

This year’s theme is linked to the International Decade for People of African Descent, which spans the timeframe from 2015 to 2024. In proclaiming this Decade, the international community is recognizing that people of African descent represent a distinct group, whose human rights must be promoted and protected.

Around 200 million people identifying themselves as being of African descent live in the Americas.

Many millions more live in other parts of the world, outside of the African continent.

Background

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid "pass laws" in 1960. In 1979, the General Assembly adopted a programme of activities to be undertaken during the second half of the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination.

On that occasion, the General Assembly decided that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, would be organized annually in all States. Since then, the apartheid system in South Africa has been dismantled.

Racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries, and we have built an international framework for fighting racism, guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The Convention is now nearing universal ratification, yet still, in all regions, too many individuals, communities and societies suffer from the injustice and stigma that racism brings.