“UNESCO against racism” conference on 20 March in Paris

Paris, 11 March

A conference entitled UNESCO Against Racism: Lessons from the past, current challenges and future perspectives will be held on 20 March at UNESCO in Paris to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21 March).

The conference will be opened (10 a.m.) by Marcio Barbosa, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO. The first session (10.15 to 1 p.m.) is devoted to UNESCO’s 60 years of combating racism: achievements and legacy. It will retrace the milestones of this campaign (Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice, Declaration on the Principles of Tolerance, World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban) and will clarify the issues prevalent at the time and the manner in which they were resolved.

The following session (3 p.m. to 4 p.m.) is entitled Building the image of the other within and through culture, education, science and the media. It will tackle the major challenges faced in the eradication of prejudices and negative stereotypes, by exploring the role of culture, education, the media and science in the construction of a positive image of the other. Several of the Organization’s Assistant Director-Generals,will speak on this theme.

The final session (4.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.) – Living together in multicultural and multiethnic societies: local authority perspectives – will look at the cities that today are home to over half of the world’s population and are places where new forms of citizenship and new ways of living together can be forged. In this respect, the International Coalition of Cities against Racism, launched by UNESCO in 2004, represents a wealth of innovatory practices. Several mayors of cities participating in this network will speak during this session.

• Author(s):Media Advisory N°2009-14
• Source:UNESCOPRESS
• 11-03-2009