ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL INTOLERANCE AND DISCRIMINATION IS COMMON MISSION OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT STRESSES

20 March 1998

Press Release
GA/SM/36
RD/882

ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL INTOLERANCE AND DISCRIMINATION IS COMMON MISSION OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT STRESSES

19980320 In Message on Occasion of International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 21 March

Following is the message of the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 21 March:

As we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, it may be worthwhile to remember how this tradition came about. The date of 21 March was chosen by the General Assembly in 1966 when it decided to proclaim the observance to commemorate the incident six years earlier at Sharpeville, South Africa, when 69 demonstrators against "pass laws" restricting their freedom of movement were shot and killed, and 180 others wounded.

Today, the hideous regime of apartheid is a thing of the past, brought to an end by the efforts of the international community. As a former Vice- Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, I was privileged to see firsthand the active and dedicated work of the United Nations aimed at dismantling a discriminatory system that for many years had been the blight of that region of the world.

While we can certainly take hope from that historic victory, events of the past years provide ample evidence that it is too early to feel complacent. With alarming frequency, the world has been a stunned witness to the horrors of "ethnic cleansing", genocidal massacres and other acts of xenophobia, intolerance and racism that transcend geographical borders. The daily fare of world news is rife with stories detailing the plight of refugees, migrant workers, indigenous people, ethnic and religious minorities in almost every corner of the globe.

All of this is an urgent reminder that our common mission to eliminate racial intolerance and discrimination, in all their manifestations, is far from being complete. It is therefore only natural that this problem remains

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high on the list of priorities for the international community and the United Nations. Five years ago, at the World Conference on Human Rights, the international community called for the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance as a primary objective for its members. That same year, the General Assembly announced the beginning of the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination.

And as we are preparing this year to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the fight to do away with the scourge of racial discrimination is gaining additional intensity. That historic Declaration proclaimed the sacred duty to protect human rights of all people "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status". Turning this noble aspiration into reality is our common goal.

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