Racism and xenophobia

Racism is the practice of discrimination, segregation, persecution or domination of people on the basis of supposed racial or ethnic difference. Historically, racism has emerged in relation to colonial histories of subjugation, slavery and economic exploitation in Europe and North America. Minorities and other vulnerable groups are often targets of racism. It remains a primary cause of human rights abuses- and a barrier to their solutions. It relates to other forms of subordination based on class, gender and caste.

The following are examples of campaigns against racism around the world:

EUROPE

Human Rights Watch

The terrorist attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011, which killed 77 people and injured more than 150 others, were a horrifying assault on the right to life. The events in Norway also highlight wider concerns about growing intolerance in Europe, the rise of far-right and populist political parties, and the often acrimonious debate about multiculturalism and integration.

Read more in Human Rights in Europe in the Aftermath of the Norway Attacks.

CENTRAL ASIA

Amnesty International

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organizations in Turkey have fought a long campaign for discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity to be prohibited.  With the new government promising to introduce important constitutional changes, now is the time to adopt comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation.

Find out what you can do at Turkey: End Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender People

ASIA

Human Rights Watch

“When we are working, they ask us not to come near them. We cannot enter temples. We cannot use upper-caste water taps. When we ask for our rights from the government, the municipality officials threaten to fire us. So we don’t say anything. This is what happens to people who demand their rights.”

Read more in Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s “Untouchables.” (Human Rights Watch Report, March 1999).

UNITED STATES and WORLDWIDE

Human Rights Watch

“We are served refreshment only in separate cups at roadside tea stalls, turned away from public swimming pools, stopped on highways as presumptive criminals, trafficked as prostitutes, denied our mother’s nationality, classed willy-nilly as “mentally disabled” in schools, and abducted into slavery.”

Read more in the Human Rights Watch World Report 2001: Special Programs and Campaigns – Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance.

Speak Truth to Power

Meet the Speak Truth to Power’s Defenders speaking out on issues of racism around the world.

-Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa won the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of democracy and justice in apartheid South Africa.
-Guillaume Ngefa Atondoko, Democratic Republic of Congo. His work to expose and hold to international standards Hutus, Tutsis and other factions in Congo, (formerly Zaire), made him an enemy to almost everyone with political power and a hero to human rights advocates.

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

‘I have also learned how closely contemporary forms of racism are bound up with the past. I believe this Conference could mark a historic breakthrough in the struggle against racism if agreement could be reached on language that recognizes historic injustices and expresses deep remorse for the crimes of the past.’
- Mrs. Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

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