Africa in focus on
International Day of Racial Discrimination Elimination
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| Anti racism protest in Greece (AFP) |
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March.
By Fr. Benedict Mayaki, SJ
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination is an observance instituted through an adopted United
Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution passed in October 1966 with the aim of
abolishing racial discrimination and other forms of segregation. It is also in
honor of the struggle to end the policy of apartheid in South Africa.
The International Convention on the Elimination of all forms
of Racial Discrimination defines racial discrimination as “any distinction,
exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national
or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the
recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other
field of public life.”
Background
On 21 March 1960, South African police opened fire and
killed 69 people in the township of Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, during a
protest against the apartheid “pass laws.” The pass laws required that
indigenous Africans over the age of sixteen carry a passbook everywhere as a
means of controlling their movement within restricted neighborhoods.
Six years after, the UN General Assembly called upon the
international community to eliminate apartheid and racial discrimination by
proclaiming 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination. It also called on its member states to initiate appropriate
programs to combat racial discrimination and promote equality.
Focus on people of African descent
This year, the United Nations is focusing its celebration on
a midterm review of the International decade for people of African descent. A
General Assembly resolution set aside 2015 - 2024 to focus on the descendants
of the victims of the transatlantic slave trade and migrants of African
ancestry as they constitute “some of the poorest and most marginalized groups.”
The resolution notes that “People of African descent can
suffer from multiple forms of discrimination based on age, sex, language,
religion, political opinion, social origin, property, disability, birth, or
other status.”
The midterm review will be a means of providing a “solid
framework to take effective measures to address these issues in the spirit of
recognition, justice and development.” It will also facilitate “taking stock of
the progress made and deciding on further necessary actions.”
The Church against racial discrimination
The Church has always made her voice heard in her advocacy
for equality, justice and tolerance.
In September 2018, during an address to the participants of
the World Conference on Xenophobia, Racism and Populist Nationalism in the
Context of Global Migration, Pope Francis, lamenting the immorality of
discrimination said:
“We live in times in which feelings that to many had seemed
to be outdated appear to be reemerging and spreading. Feelings of suspicion,
fear, contempt and even hatred towards other individuals or groups judged to be
different on the basis of their ethnicity, nationality or religion… These
feelings, then, too often inspire real acts of intolerance, discrimination or
exclusion that seriously harm the dignity of those involved as well as their
fundamental rights, including the very right to life and to physical and moral
integrity.”
Calling for action, the Pope said: “The seriousness of these
phenomena cannot leave us indifferent. We are all called, in our respective
roles, to nurture and promote respect for the inherent dignity of every human
person beginning with the family… but also in the various social contexts we
engage in.”
“The other is not only a being to be respected by virtue of
his or her inherent dignity but above all a brother or sister to be loved.”
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