The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, was held in Durban, South Africa from August 31 to September 7, 2001.
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Joint Statement to the OSCE Conference
on Anti-Semitism
Berlin, April 28-29,
2004
Overview of Developments in 2001
from the Human Rights Watch 2002 World Report,
January 16, 2002
Anti-Racism Summit Ends
on Hopeful Note,
Press release, September 10, 2001
India: Spotlight on
Caste Discrimination,
Press release, September 11, 2001
Overview:
Key issues:
Recent Press releases
- Disappointment as U.S. Bolts Race
Conference September 3, 2001
- Global Caste Discrimination,
en Français, August
29, 2001
- Côte d'Ivoire: Politicians
Incite Ethnic Conflict,
en Français, August
28, 2001
- Anti-Racism Summit
Needs Concrete Results, August 27, 2001
- South Africa:
Racism Plagues Response to Rural Crime, August
22, 2001
Key Issues:
- Discrimination by reason of caste
In much of Asia and parts of Africa racism has become coterminous with caste
in the definition and exclusion of distinct population groups distinguished by
their descent. Despite formal protections in law, discriminatory treatment remains
endemic and discriminatory societal norms continue to be reinforced by government
structures ranging from the police and the lower courts to state and municipal
authorities. Express recognition is required that caste-based discrimination
bars millions from the exercise of their civil and political, and their economic,
social, and cultural rights — a precondition for international programs
to support the abolition of caste discrimination and to remedy abuses.
Caste: Asia's Hidden Apartheid
HRW Press Kit
Draft Resolution on Discrimination Based
on Work and Descent
May 12, 2001
Caste Discrimination:
A Global Concern
HRW Report, August 29, 2001
End Global Caste Discrimination
Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Human
Rights Watch today called for an end to caste-based discrimination around the
world.
Press Release, March 21, 2001
End Caste Discrimination
HRW Special Focus Page
- Discrimination in the Determination of Nationality and
Citizenship Rights
Millions of people have been denied or stripped of citizenship in their own countries
solely because of their race, national descent, and gender. In many countries,
children born in their mother’s country are denied her nationality because women
can not transmit nationality. These citizens without citizenship are denied a
broad range of civil and political, and economic, social and cultural rights.
Nationality and Statelessness
HRW Press Kit
- The Rights of Migrants, Refugees, and
Asylum Seekers
Throughout the world, refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced
persons are the victims of racial discrimination, racist attacks, xenophobia
and ethnic intolerance. Racism is both a cause and a product of forced displacement,
and an obstacle to its solution. In 2000, some 150 million migrants were living
outside their countries of birth. Of these, some 50 million people were forcibly
displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, and human rights violations.
Industrialized states have introduced a barrage of restrictive policies and practices
over the past decade targeting asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. Even traditionally
generous host countries in the developing world, often over-burdened with their
own social and economic problems, have become increasingly reluctant to host
large refugee
populations.
Press kit on
refugees, migrants and racism
August 2001
- Don't Drop
Refugee Rights
September 1, 2001
To Help Refugees,
Fight the Racism Behind Them
August 31, 2001
Protecting the Human Rights of Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and Internally
Displaced Persons Suggested Language from Human
Rights Watch
( Download PDF Version, 21
Pages )
August 6, 2001
Racism and Refugees: HRW Contribution
to the World Conference Against Racism
A Critique of Elements of the Draft Declaration and Programme of Action
May 2001
Racism, Refugees and
Migrants: HRW Contribution to the European Conference Against Racism
October 2000
Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Internally Displaced Persons
HRW Special Focus Page
- Discrimination in Criminal Justice
Criminal justice has an enormous potential for unjustified discriminatory effect.
At the national or local level discrimination can arise from practices with
racist intent, like racial profiling, in which an individual’s presumed race
is the determining factor in placing them under suspicion. The mechanisms of
criminal justice can equally result in unjustified discriminatory effect where
there is no clear racist intent. Discriminatory impact can be shown in patterns
of police abuse, arbitrary arrest, incarceration, prosecution, and sentencing.
The de facto denial of remedies to particular groups within a criminal justice
system or the disparate effect of de jure disenfranchisement of members of
a particular group may be evidence of unjustified racial discrimination regardless
of the intent of lawmakers and public officials.
Racism and the Administration of Justice
HRW Press Kit
Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in
the War on Drugs
HRW Report
- Reparations for Slavery and Segregation
Groups that suffer today because of slavery or other severe racist practices
should be compensated by governments responsible for these practices. Human
Rights Watch is calling for the creation of national and international panels
to identify and acknowledge past abuses and to guide action to counter their
present-day effect. The panels should aim to reveal the extent to which a government’s
past racist practices contribute to contemporary deprivation, domestically
and abroad. Reparations for past abuse should focus first on groups that continue
to suffer the most severe hardships. A primary purpose of reparations would
be to address the social and economic foundations of today’s victims’ continuing
marginalization—through means such as investment in education, housing, health
care, or job training.
An Approach to Reparations
Human Rights Watch
Position Paper
July 19, 2001
Reparations Urged for Slavery,
Segregation
Press Release
July 19, 2001
Other Human Rights Watch contributions to the World Conference Against Racism fora:
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Photo essay on racism and xenophobia in the treatment of people of
Haitian origin in the Dominican Republic
HRW Publications
A selected list of Human Rights Watch publications that
address issues of discrimination based on race, caste,
ethnicity, and other forms of descent
Related Links
World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, UN Web page
Preparatory Committee
First session, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Web page
Geneva, 1-5 May 2000
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