racism

Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa speaks at the General Assembly’s informal plenary meeting for Nelson Mandela International Day.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Nelson Mandela: 'Synonymous with the fight for justice and equality'

21 July 2021
Human Rights

Celebrating what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 102nd birthday on Wednesday, the UN deputy chief hailed the man who led the struggle that ended the racist apartheid system in his native South Africa as exemplifying “courage, compassion and an unwavering commitment to social justice and equality”.   

Tributes are left for George Floyd outside the grocery store in the US state of Minnesota where he was murdered by a police officer.
Unsplash/Jéan Béller

UN rights chief welcomes verdict in George Floyd murder case 

21 April 2021
Human Rights

The guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin in the George Floyd murder trial has been welcomed by the UN human rights chief, who said on Wednesday that “any other result would have been a travesty of justice”. 

In San Francisco in the United States, demonstrators take to the streets to protest against the rise of race-related hate crimes against people of Asian descent.
Unsplash/Jason Leung

UN chief ‘profoundly concerned’ over rise in violence against Asians

22 March 2021
Law and Crime Prevention

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has issued a statement expressing his profound concern over the rise in violence against Asians, and people of Asian descent, during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anti-racism protesters in Brooklyn, New York, demonstrate demanding justice for the killing of African American, George Floyd.
UN News/Shirin Yaseen

Collective commitment needed to end the ‘poison’ of racism: UN cultural chief says

22 March 2021
Culture and Education

With the COVID-19 pandemic providing fertile ground for the resurgence of racism and discrimination, the head of the UN’s educational and cultural agency, UNESCO, called on Monday for countries to stand united in what she described as “these testing times”. 

Factories off the coast of Louisiana, United States. (file)
Unsplash/Robin Sommer

Environmental racism in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’, must end, say UN human rights experts

2 March 2021
Human Rights

The further industrialization of so-called “Cancer Alley” in the southern United States, known for its pollution-emitting chemical plants, should be halted according to a large group of independent UN human rights experts, who on Tuesday branded it a form of “environmental racism”. 

Young Brazilians protest calling for an end to racism (file photo).
Antonio Dourado

'Deplorable' killing of Afro-Brazilian man shows need to address racism, discrimination

24 November 2020
Human Rights

The killing of an Afro-Brazilian man, and the widespread outrage it has sparked, underscores the urgent need for the Government to tackle racism and racial discrimination in South America’s largest country, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday. 

Humanitarians and global leaders in Artificial Intelligence (AI) attended the AI for Good Global Summit held in Geneva in May 2018 (file photo).)
ITU/D. Procofieff

Independent rights expert says emerging technologies entrenching racism, discrimination

15 July 2020
Human Rights

An independent UN human rights expert is calling for greater scrutiny of emerging digital technologies which she said are being used to uphold racial inequality, discrimination and intolerance.

Young women from the Caribbean island of Dominica.
UNDPLAC

UN human rights chief: racism and xenophobia are ‘contagious killers’ too

13 March 2020
Human Rights

The coronavirus outbreak may have forced millions around the world already into “social distancing”, keeping a metre apart to prevent its spread, but it will not stop them from uniting to combat racism, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared in Geneva on Friday. 

A child stands in front of his house in Cayapas, Ecuador. In this area community schools have been set up by UNICEF in partnership with the local Catholic church, to provide basic quality education to children living in this remote area, where the vast majority of the population is Afro-descendant.
© UNICEF/Donata Lodi

Much work needed to ‘target unacceptable levels’ of racism in Ecuador: UN experts

23 December 2019
Human Rights

Ecuador must implement and enforce laws and policies to protect the rights of Afro-Ecuadorians, the UN Working Group on People of African Descent said on Monday, calling for an end to the “discrimination, exclusion and extreme poverty they suffer.”

The “Non-Violence” (or “Knotted Gun”) sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd on display at the UN Visitors’ Plaza.
UN Photo

Bigotry makes politicians ‘complicit in the violence that follows’ : UN independent experts

7 August 2019
Peace and Security

Responding to the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio on Saturday, a group of independent UN experts has called out the “increased use of divisive language”, as well as attempts to marginalise racial, ethnic and religious minorities”, by some politicians and leaders.