Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the Convening of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance

A/RES/54/154View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 114 Elimination of racism and racial discrimination, published in 2000.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 1999–2001

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/55/84

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2001	A/RES/55/84	Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the convening of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance	3,894	58%Compare
2000	A/RES/54/154	Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the convening of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance	2,893	48%Compare
1999	A/RES/53/132	Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the convening of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance	2,636	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

14 subjects

Conferences Financial Resources Human Rights Education Indigenous Peoples Information Dissemination International Decades International Years Programme Implementation Programmes of Action Racial Discrimination Reservations and Declarations Tolerance Trust Funds Xenophobia

What’s in this document?

52 operative paragraphs

I

Welcomes the report submitted by the Secretary-General;8

Reaffirms that racism and racial discrimination are among the most serious violations of human rights in the contemporary world, and expresses its firm determination and its commitment to eradicate, by all available means, racism in all its forms and racial discrimination;

Urges all Governments to take all necessary measures to combat new forms of racism, in particular by constantly adapting the means provided to combat them, especially in the legislative, administrative, education and information fields;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to assign a high priority to the follow-up to programmes and activities for combating racism and racial discrimination, consistent with the need to ensure the effective preparation of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance;

Requests the Secretary-General in his reports on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to accord special attention to and provide information on the situation of migrant workers in this regard;

Calls upon all Member States to consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families9 as a matter of priority;

Commends all States that have ratified or acceded to the international instruments to combat racism and racial discrimination, especially the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination2 and the Convention against Discrimination in Education;3

Urges all States that have not yet done so to become parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in order to achieve its universal ratification;

Urges States to limit the extent of any reservation they lodge to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to formulate any reservation as precisely and as narrowly as possible, to ensure that no reservations are incompatible with the objective and purpose of the Convention or otherwise incompatible with international treaty law, to review their reservations regularly with a view to withdrawing them and to withdraw reservations that are contrary to the objective and purpose of the Convention or that are otherwise incompatible with international treaty law;

Encourages the mass media to promote ideas of tolerance and understanding among peoples and different cultures;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to draw attention to the effects of racial discrimination on minorities and migrant workers and members of their families, especially women and children, in the fields of education, training and employment and to submit in his report specific recommendations for the implementation of measures to combat such discrimination;

Recognizes the need for adequate support and financial resources for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the Programme of Action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, and requests the Secretary-General to include in his report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session concrete proposals on how to ensure the financial and personnel resources required for the implementation of the Programme of Action, including through the regular budget of the United Nations and extrabudgetary sources;

Expresses its appreciation to those who have made contributions to the Trust Fund for the Programme of Action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, strongly appeals to all Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals in a position to do so to contribute generously to the Fund, and to this end requests the Secretary-General to continue to establish the appropriate contacts and undertake the appropriate initiatives;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session on the outcome of expert seminars held in connection with the activities of the Third Decade;

Welcomes the establishment of the racism project team in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights with a view to coordinating all activities of the Third Decade;

Urges all Governments, the Secretary-General, United Nations bodies, the specialized agencies, intergovernmental organizations and relevant non-governmental organizations, in implementing the Programme of Action, to pay particular attention to the situation of indigenous people;

Requests States to consider the relevant decisions of the Economic and Social Council on the integrated follow-up to previous world conferences and the need to make optimum use of all available mechanisms in the struggle against racism;

Strongly underlines the importance of education as a significant means of preventing and eradicating racism and racial discrimination and of creating awareness of principles of human rights, in particular among young people, and in this regard requests the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to continue its work on the preparation and dissemination of teaching materials and teaching aids to promote teaching, training and educational activities on human rights and against racism and racial discrimination, with particular emphasis on activities at the primary and secondary levels of education;

Considers that, in order to attain the objectives of the Third Decade, all parts of the Programme of Action should be given equal attention;

Requests the Secretary-General to accord high priority to the activities of the Programme of Action, and in this regard also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the necessary financial resources are provided for the implementation of the activities of the Third Decade during the biennium 2000–2001;

Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to submit each year to the Economic and Social Council a detailed report on all activities of United Nations bodies and the specialized agencies containing an analysis of information received on activities to combat racism and racial discrimination;

Invites the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly proposals which would assist in the full implementation of the Programme of Action;

Reiterates its calls upon all Governments, United Nations bodies, the specialized agencies and intergovernmental and regional organizations and interested non-governmental organizations to contribute fully to the effective implementation of the Programme of Action;

II.WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION,

XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE

Recalls its resolutions 52/111 of 12 December 1997 and 53/132 of 9 December 1998, in which it established that the Commission on Human Rights would act as the Preparatory Committee for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and takes note of Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/78 of 28 April 1999¹¹ and Economic and Social Council resolution 1999/12 of 27 July 1999;

¹¹See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1999, Supplement No. 3 (E/1999/23), chap. II, sect. A.

Recommends that the Preparatory Committee give consideration to the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, including the recommendation contained in paragraph 41 (b) of his report to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session;¹²

¹²See A/53/269.

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure that adequate financial resources are made available for the preparatory process for the World Conference, including from the regular budget of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to make every effort to ensure the mobilization of resources for the voluntary fund for the World Conference to cover the participation of the least developed countries in the preparatory process and in the Conference itself, and requests all Governments, international and non-governmental organizations and private individuals to contribute to the fund;

Calls upon the High Commissioner to help States and regional organizations, upon request, to convene national and regional meetings or to undertake other initiatives, including activities at the expert level, to prepare for the World Conference, and urges the specialized agencies and the regional commissions, in coordination with the High Commissioner, to contribute to the convening of regional preparatory meetings;

Requests the Secretary-General, the specialized agencies and the regional commissions to provide financial and technical assistance for the organization of the regional preparatory meetings planned in the context of the World Conference, and stresses that such assistance should be supplemented by voluntary contributions;

Decides that the World Conference and the sessions of the Preparatory Committee should be open to the participation of:

All States Members of the United Nations and States members of the specialized agencies;

Representatives of all regional organizations and regional commissions involved in the preparation of regional meetings, as well as associate members of the regional commissions;

Representatives of organizations that have received a standing invitation from the General Assembly to participate in the capacity of observers;

Representatives of the specialized agencies, the secretariats of the regional commissions and all United Nations bodies and programmes;

Representatives of all United Nations mechanisms in the field of human rights;

Other interested governmental organizations, which shall be represented by observers;

Interested non-governmental organizations, which shall be represented by observers in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31 of 25 July 1996;

Welcomes the offer by the Government of South Africa to host the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001;

Requests the High Commissioner:

To undertake a study, to be submitted to the Preparatory Committee at its first session, on ways of improving coordination between her Office and all specialized agencies and international, regional and subregional organizations with regard to action to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

To continue to devise and implement, with the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, a world information campaign aimed at sensitizing public opinion to the importance and the objectives of the World Conference, to publish in all the official languages of the United Nations an information pamphlet that is to be made available to non-governmental organizations, the media and the general public and to inform the Preparatory Committee of developments in this regard;

To help States, upon request, and regional organizations to convene national and regional meetings or to undertake other initiatives, including activities at the expert level, to prepare for the World Conference;

To draw up a draft agenda for the first session of the Preparatory Committee, taking into consideration, inter alia, the need to address in a comprehensive manner all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related contemporary forms of intolerance;

To continue fund-raising activities in order to increase the resources for the voluntary fund established specifically to cover all aspects of the preparatory process for the World Conference and the participation of non-governmental organizations, in particular those from developing countries;

Welcomes the proposals on the themes for the World Conference made by the sessional open-ended working group to review and formulate proposals for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance of the Commission on Human Rights;

Decides that the World Conference shall be action-oriented and shall focus on practical measures to eradicate racism, including measures of prevention, education and protection and through the provision of effective remedies, taking into full consideration the existing human rights instruments;

Requests the Preparatory Committee to begin drafting as soon as possible a final document on specific goals as well as objectives and timetables for their achievement;

Appeals to Member States to contribute generously to the voluntary fund for the World Conference to cover the preparatory process and the Conference and the participation of non-governmental organizations from developing countries;

Requests Governments, the specialized agencies, other international organizations, concerned United Nations bodies, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the human rights of migrants and other human rights mechanisms to assist the Preparatory Committee and to undertake reviews and submit recommendations concerning the World Conference and the preparations therefor to the Preparatory Committee, through the Secretary-General, and to participate actively in the Conference;

Calls upon States and regional organizations to convene national and regional meetings or to undertake other initiatives, such as public information campaigns, to raise awareness of the World Conference as part of the preparation for the Conference, and requests regional preparatory meetings to submit reports to the Preparatory Committee, through the Secretary-General, on the outcome of their deliberations, including practical and action-oriented recommendations to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

III

PROCLAMATION OF 2001 AS THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MOBILIZATION AGAINST RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE

Strongly reaffirms the proclamation of 2001 as the International Year of Mobilization against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and in this context calls upon Governments, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations to observe the International Year in a suitable manner, including through programmes of action;

IV.GENERAL

Decides to keep the item entitled “Elimination of racism and racial discrimination” on its agenda and to consider it as a matter of high priority at its fifty-fifth session.