Globalization must have a human rights dimension, says UN official

Opening a new session of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a senior UN human rights official stressed today that any discussion of racism, globalization, and migration must conducted from a human-rights perspective.

Maria-Francisca Ize-Charrin, Chief of the Treaties and Commission Branch of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) added that tackling all forms of discrimination, not only racial, remained one of the priorities of the human rights Office.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said that Ms. Ize-Charrin had spoken of “the need for a holistic and human rights approach to the issue of globalization and racism, and she stressed the importance of incorporating human rights consideration in the debate on human migration.”

The Committee, which is beginning its 68th session today, will consider country reports from Mexico, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala, El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Guyana and Botswana.

One hundred and seventy states have signed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and in his opening address, the Committee’s new chairperson, Regis De Gouttes, said that he would “pursue the monitoring of the Convention with vigilance and strictness.”