 | Director-General SPEECHES | |
| FLASH INFO | |
| PRESS RELEASES | |
| MESSAGES | |
| UNESCO.ORG is also: | |
| | |
| | Message from the Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - 21 March 2006
20-03-2006 - The celebration of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is an occasion for each one of us to participate once again in the long history of those who are working for equal rights and human dignity. |
To share this history, or this memory, is a form of tribute and necessary recognition which is particularly important this year, marked as it is by a twofold commemoration that serves as a reminder of our past commitments.
The United Nations General Assembly instituted this Day 40 years ago, in 1966, following the Sharpeville massacre, which saw young South African schoolchildren demonstrate against the apartheid regime that was a symbol of division and racial discrimination. Since 1994 the apartheid regime has been abolished, replaced by a historic process of justice, peace and reconciliation. In commemorating this Day, we are paying tribute to all those brave men and women who have managed to restore the nobility of the values of pluralism and equality between peoples.
This year’s celebration of 21 March also marks the fifth anniversary of the World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance. Held in 2001, in Durban, South Africa, that Conference enabled the international community to adopt a programme of action and to renew its commitments to deal with new forms of inequality, exclusion and discrimination throughout the world.
Nothing can ever be taken for granted. New forms of discrimination in employment, access to housing, health, culture and education are still threatening entitlements which we thought irreversible. We therefore need to increase our vigilance and mobilize still further. It is essential to increase our capacity for action to develop human rights education and teaching aids, promote standard-setting instruments celebrating diversity and pluralism, conduct coordinated action with our civil society partners, especially with cities, and expand scientific research.
At a time when we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Organization, let us provide, in fidelity to our Constitution, judicious and novel responses to the dilemmas confronting our era so that each may become once more the protagonist of his or her own history.
|
Source |
Office of the Spokesperson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
