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IntroductionRights, dignity and equalityOne of the great successes of the past century has been the popularity of the idea ofuniversal human rights. But the full meaning of human rights is often not fully understood, namely equal human rights : not just rights for me and people ‘ like me ’, but foreach and every one of us, whether you are like me or not. The real message of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights is that everyone is entitled to the same humanrights and to equal human dignity. No one can be denied their human rights becausethey are different from others, whether by sex, race or ethnicity, work or descent, caste,culture, religion, skin colour or other grounds. The struggle to ensure equality of treatment for everyone is thus at the centre of all efforts to promote the universal protectionof human rights.Racism and anti-racism is first a battle of ideas. This truth is conveyed well in DoudouDiène’s chapter. He notes that the new and shared context of globalization is not initself transformative – the speed of communications and the interconnectedness of theworld will not inevitably lead to the demise of racism. To the contrary, the impact ofglobalization can, he believes, give a boost to racism : “ the ‘ global village ’ spanningthe world has produced more villages, and more insularity, than it has global consciousness. ” The impact of the horrific events of 11 September 2001 in the United States, interms of increasing levels of hostility to immigrants and asylum-seekers in many countries, is also noted. The writer argues for a new intellectual strategy that gets at thedeep cultural roots of racism and discrimination. The chapter sets out some key elements of that strategy as well as its goal. The goal is to achieve mutual accommodationand understanding and that can best be done through recognition of the mutual influences that exist and have existed between cultures, civilizations and spiritual traditions.This contribution offers an exciting direction for further research as well as a frameworkof thought to help address the cultural antagonisms that are very evident in manysocieties. In concrete terms all societies that receive immigrants need to explore whatthe new and old populations have in common as an antidote to the assumption thatthey are wholly different. All societies are becoming increasingly multicultural or pluralist and there is an equal obligation on the newcomers and on those who have beenthere for generations to learn about each other. Such a learning process will reveal thepotential for mutual appreciation of each other’s cultures and customs as well as fostercompromise and tolerance. Such a process hopefully will bring out that their respectivecultures are less remote from each other than stereotypes project and will also providethe basis of trust for managing inevitable problems. That process, it may be noted, isbest supported by a framework of laws that enshrine human rights and equality principles within which cultural affinities can be recognized and differences negotiated.Learning about others and the overcoming of mutual ignorance are ideals of education.The role of education in ending racism is addressed by Katarina Tomaševski, who forsix years was a United Nations expert or ‘ special rapporteur ’ on the right to education.3

Dimensions of RacismWhat is distinctive about her ideas is her conviction that only the integration of humanrights learning and teaching into education can ensure that racial prejudice and intolerance are successfully combated in children when they are in school and out of school.She notes that the implementation of the right to education for all is a progressiveachievement. She sketches the stages of that progress from the gradual inclusion ofthose previously excluded from education for racist motives (as in the school segregation of African children in colonial times, the Roma in Europe, the untouchables in Indiaor black children in the United States of America), to the stage of integration. She argues,however, that there is a further stage to be achieved in which the cultural diversity of childrenis recognized. The previous requirement that children adapt to the education availableshould give way to one in which education is adapted to the best interests of each child.The contributions from Mr. Diène and Professor Tomaševski are asking us to considerhow best to combine pluralism with the necessary common values that enshrine equality and dignity. It is that combination which will provide our societies with the very bestdefence against the perpetuation of racial prejudice and discrimination.The role of lawThe function of law, both national and international, is to translate the principle of nondiscrimination into binding norms or rules on how we should behave. Such rules aredesigned first to offer legally binding protections and also redress for those victims ofdiscrimination. Second, these rules impose obligations on Governments and on all of usnot to act in a discriminatory manner. Over the past half-century or so extensive effortsat international level have been made to find effective uses of law to end racism andracial discrimination. Countries have negotiated and ratified many international legalinstruments. Nozipho January-Bardill surveys these instruments. She notes that theUnited Nations has expended more effort to tackle racial discrimination than on anyother human rights issue. The centrepiece of the international community’s driveagainst racial discrimination is the International Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Racial Discrimination. Its requirements have been accepted by over threequarters of the States in the world. The Convention’s definition of racial discriminationprovides a useful perspective on the subject.“ In this Convention the term ‘ racial discrimination ’ shall mean any distinction,exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national orethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. ”With that definition as a guide, States are required by the Convention to pass their ownlaws and to enforce them so as to prevent and to punish racial discrimination in allaspects of public life. Governments must ensure that those who experience racial discrimination have effective access to courts or other bodies to complain of such treat-4

Introductionment and have an adequate remedy. States must also condemn and seek to end thepropagation of discredited theories or ideas claiming the superiority and inferiority ofracial or ethnic groups as well as speech that promotes racial hatred. There are alsoduties on States to promote education for tolerance and mutual understanding. TheConvention does one other vital thing. It incorporates a monitoring system wherebyStates are expected to give regular progress reports to an independent internationalcommittee (of which Ms. January-Bardill is a member). Her contribution provides abalanced assessment of what the Convention and its monitoring committee haveachieved to date, along with an analysis of other international initiatives andmechanisms working for the elimination of racial discrimination.A related topic is the challenge presented where racial prejudice infects the law itselfand the administration of justice within society. Leila Zerrougui examines the problem ofracial and ethnic discrimination in the criminal justice system. She finds that it is adimension of racism that has been uncovered in many countries and that it exists inothers where it has yet to be addressed. The evidence is to be found in the behaviourof the police, the courts and the prisons. Amnesty International, for example, hasdescribed as blatant ethnic discrimination in the entire criminal justice system ofBurundi. Research from the United States of Amercia, shows that race and ethnicitymatters when it comes to sentencing, including to the death penalty.The author concludes a fairly depressing picture with the statement that “ the elimination of manifestations of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance in the administration of justice is a long and costly process that requires political will and the mobilizationof resources as well as education, research and advocacy. Above all, in order to carryconviction, we need research that fathoms the workings of those mechanisms thatperpetuate discrimination. ”Her plea for more research is echoed in other contributions. Not enough is yet knownabout the nature and extent of racism and racial discrimination or on how best to combat it.Racism, poverty, employment and healthIt is often said that legal prohibitions on racist behaviour cannot eliminate the attitudesthat underlie such behaviour. As Julio Faundez points out in his chapter on racial discrimination in employment, however, law is a necessary starting point in tackling otherfactors that perpetuate such discrimination. Against a background of discussion of theessential human right to have access to work, the author provides a clear account ofhow discrimination in employment operates and gives examples of how it can be countered in the labour market. Racial discrimination can exclude people from work but it isalso experienced at work in the form of racial harassment. Both need to be tackled andthe policies needed require employer and trade union cooperation and commitment tointernational labour standards.5

Dimensions of RacismThis chapter also addresses the particular challenges created for the elimination of discrimination where there is large-scale unemployment and poverty. In many developingcountries victims of racial discrimination live in conditions of extreme poverty withouthope of obtaining qualifications and, therefore, no opportunity of entering the formallabour market. Professor Faundez cites the case of indigenous peoples who are oftenremote from where work might be available and he also highlights the case of poorwomen without skills who are exploited in low-paid jobs, including as domestic servants,or who eke out a living in the informal sector. Anti-discrimination policies therefore needto take into account conditions of extreme poverty and unemployment and the authorsuggests how that might be done.The links between extreme poverty and racial discrimination is a recurrent theme inseveral of the chapters of this book. So also are the links between racism, gender,poverty and health. Dr. Torres Parodi explores the question of health and racism withdata largely drawn from her own region, the Americas. Her chapter reviews theresearch evidence that brings out the dismal correlation that exists between health status and ethnic or immigrant status in different countries. Minorities fare worst on suchindicators as infant mortality or life expectancy and illness. The correlation betweenpoverty and health status, as well as access to health care, is also clear, but the poorwho are black, indigenous or socially marginalized suffer even more and being femaleadds a further layer of disadvantage.HIV/AIDSA similar human reality underlies one of the most devastating health emergencies ofour time, the pandemic known as HIV/AIDS. HIV is the acronym of the humanimmunodeficiency virus, which can lead to the disease of AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. As Shalini Bharat argues in her chapter, the early focus on gaymen and other ‘risk groups’ obscured the extent to which factors of race, class and gender properly define HIV/AIDS as a social as well as a medical problem. Her examinationof the powerful concept of stigma linked to racial stereotyping brings out that many people living with HIV/AIDS are also victims of racism. She demonstrates from empiricaland other information how gender is an additional factor in the discrimination faced bywomen with HIV/AIDS. Awareness of the human dimension of the tragedy of AIDS hasincreased considerably with the vigorous promotion of a human rights perspective. Thatperspective also offers a good basis for community action to combat prejudice and discrimination towards HIV/AIDS sufferers. UNESCO and UNAIDS have produced anexcellent educational pack for youth action on human rights and HIV/AIDS.4 In it ayoung medical student, campaigner in Indonesia, states :“ The basis of discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS is fear and thisfear comes mostly from wrong or distorted information so, our first step had tobe to correct misunderstandings about how HIV is transmitted ”6

IntroductionThe HIV/AIDS Human Rights Guidelines, prepared by OHCHR and UNAIDS andthe basis of the youth educational pack, are suggested for follow-up reading toMs. Bharat’s chapter.MigrantsA distinctive feature of the Durban Conference documents is their ‘ victim approach ’,meaning that anti-racism policies need to understand more precisely who are the targets of racism and what are their specific needs for protection. A category of victim thatfeatures prominently in the recommendations from Durban is that of migrants. Twochapters in the present book address the discrimination faced by millions of peoplewho live and work in countries other than that of their birthplace. We are told in the firstsentence of chapter 8 that :“ [O]ne in every 50 human beings is a migrant worker, a refugee or asylumseeker, or an immigrant living in a ‘foreign’ country. Current estimates by the UnitedNations and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are that some175 million people live temporarily or permanently outside their countries of origin(2.5 per cent of the world’s population). ”These are arresting figures, as is the evidence of the hardships, xenophobia, racial discrimination and violence experienced by these different categories of migrants. Thechallenge of immigration facing society – and in a globalizing world it is the experienceof most countries – is how States can adapt to multicultural and multi-ethnic societies.Part of the answer lies in the proposals for intercultural exchange of Doudou Diène(chapter 1), but a further requirement is to ensure effective laws prohibiting discrimination and exploitation of migrant workers and their families. Many migrants are unskilledmanual workers who fill the ‘ three-D ’ jobs, as they are described in Asia – dirty, difficultand dangerous. The human rights perspective on migration is addressed in chapter 8not only in respect of the migrant who has arrived in a foreign country, but also inrespect of the experience of migration itself. A huge concern is the trafficking of humanbeings, especially women and children ; another is the plight of illegal migrants who arevulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers; and still another is refugees andasylum-seekers.Research on the negative reactions of the settled population to newcomers oftenexpressed in racism and hostility is examined by August Gächter, an expert in socialresearch methods. He looks at evidence from public opinion research (Euro-barometerdata) on attitudes of European Union citizens to ethnic minorities and immigrants. Healso introduces other studies aimed at uncovering evidence of formal and informal discrimination. Formal discrimination is that sanctioned by law, particularly in respect ofnon-citizens, and informal discrimination is that which is unlawful but is neverthelesspractised in different ways. Part of what he teaches us is how to interpret the results ofanti-discrimination research and to be aware of the scientific limitations inevitably asso-7

Dimensions of Racismciated with it. Thus, he points to the difficulties of comparing statistics from differentcountries where, despite efforts to develop common statistical protocols, many data ofinterest are wholly incomparable. He is also direct in declaring how much we still do notknow about how discrimination operates in practice and, joining others, makes a pleafor further research, including into the effectiveness of anti-racism training.The media and racismMigration is a huge and complex subject generating political controversy that isreflected every day in the European media. Bent Sørensen examines the negative andalso the positive aspects of European media treatment of immigrants, asylum-seekersand minorities. He sets out the problem:“ Media policy and coverage often contribute to a racist vision of social realityby suppressing positive information about groups targeted by racists. Generally,the media in the news about ethnic, cultural, religious minorities and migrants inEurope focus on negativity, problems and crime. ”While documenting the negative media treatment, the author also identifies media initiatives to understand minorities, convey their points of view and enable their participationin the media. He finds that the responsibility of the media in reinforcing the racist opinionsand hostile attitudes that can produce an atmosphere tolerant of violence towards vulnerable groups is not sufficiently acknowledged by media owners or journalists.This chapter examines also the vexed issue of racism and anti-Semitism on theInternet. There have been efforts at legal control of the dissemination of hate on theInternet and racist content and pornography are unlawful Internet content in manycountries. Such regulatory efforts have, however, had limited effect and there is thebroader issue of principle, the legitimacy of censorship. Could anything more be donethrough regulation ? Does the Internet require a regulatory regime separate from thatfor the written press or radio and television ? Or is it a matter of accepting that the racistcontent, like other undesirable content such as pornography, should be seen in theperspective of the extraordinary and much greater volume of positive content that canbe accessed with this wonderful new communications t

additional discrimination and suffering for women or those living with HIV/AIDS. These are among the dimensions of racism examined in this book. This introduction will provide some flavour of the analyses and ideas presented in the chapters that follow. It will al