The UN General Assembly has pledged to redouble efforts to combat racism around the world, commemorating a landmark but contentious 2001 anti-racism conference by holding an anniversary meeting once again riven with divisions.
Looking back on the two decades since the conference in Durban, South Africa, the assembly Wednesday adopted a resolution that acknowledged some progress but deplored what it called a rise in discrimination, violence and intolerance directed at people of African heritage and many other groups 바카라 from the Roma to refugees, the young to the old, people with disabilities to people who have been displaced.
At a meeting focused on reparations and racial justice for people with African heritage, the assembly pointed to the effects of slavery, colonialism and genocide and called for ensuring that people of African descent can seek 바카라adequate reparation or satisfaction바카라 through national institutions.
바카라Millions of the descendants of Africans who were sold into slavery remain trapped in lives of underdevelopment, disadvantage, discrimination and poverty,바카라 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told the gathering via video.
He urged the UN to take up the question of reparations for 바카라one of the darkest periods in the history of humankind and a crime of unparalleled barbarity.바카라
President Felix Tshisekedi of Congo said reparations, however they might be provided, should reflect not only historic wrongs but also 바카라the scars of racial inequality, subordination and discrimination, which were built under slavery, apartheid and colonialism."
The assembly's resolution also noted ills caused by religious prejudices, specifically including anti-Muslim, antisemitic and anti-Christian bias.
But Israel, the United States and some other countries boycotted the meeting because of continued grievances about the Durban meeting 20 years ago. There, the US and Israel pulled out because participants drafted a conference declaration that denounced Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
And Jamaica, while joining Wednesday's meeting, said there weren't sufficient calls for slavery reparations in a new political declaration that was being drafted.
Still, the event 바카라 coinciding with the assembly's annual meeting of world leaders 바카라 spotlighted the cause of racial equality at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has underscored inequities, and as the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in the US has re-energized racial justice movements around the world.
The disparity in vaccine availability around the world 바카라clearly does not demonstrate equality between the countries and peoples of this world,바카라 Tshisekedi said. Only about 1 in 1,000 people in his country have gotten at least one shot.
He and others praised some developments since the 2001 conference, including some national-level legislative efforts and the assembly's new Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, meant to promote their rights and inclusion.
But 바카라we, as a global community, have not done enough to tackle the pervasiveness of racism, racial discrimination, intolerance and xenophobia," said assembly President Abdulla Shahid, who is from the Maldives.
The 2001 Durban conference aimed to usher in 바카라a century of human rights,바카라 one that would see 바카라the eradication of racism...and the realisation of genuine equality of opportunity and treatment for all individuals and peoples,바카라 according to its declaration.
But work on the document was rocked by tensions over how to address the legacy of slavery, complaints from multiple groups who felt their cause was getting short shift, and a clash over Israel.
With Arab states keen to condemn the Jewish state over its conduct toward Palestinians, the draft declaration decried 바카라racist practices of Zionism바카라 and accused Israel of practices of racial discrimination.
After the American and Israeli walkout, the wording was changed to recognize the 바카라plight바카라 of the Palestinians, and the document was eventually adopted.
The US still faults 바카라the anti-Israel and antisemitic underpinnings of the Durban process and has longstanding freedom of expression concerns바카라 with the results, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement Wednesday explaining her country's decision not to participate in the anniversary meeting.
Thomas-Greenfield, who is African American, said combating racism is a top priority for her and for the Biden administration. She said the US would continue working on the issue in 바카라more inclusive바카라 settings, without detailing what she meant.
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan lambasted 바카라the radical antisemitism바카라 of the Durban conference in remarks at a competing, virtual meeting organised by a professor at Touro College in New York.
At least 19 nations skipped the assembly's event Wednesday, by Israel's count.
The meeting focused on reparations and racial justice and equality for people with African roots, while reaffirming the entire Durban declaration.
Calling the Durban conference a highlight of her life, Suriname-born Dutch activist and former politician Barryl Biekman complained of a 바카라structurally persistent negative campaign to defame and undermine바카라 the declaration, called the DDPA for short.
바카라Without the DDPA, we would not have been as close as we are today in having a global platform position to recognise the unfulfilled rights of Africans and people of African descent, at the United Nations and in global society,바카라 she said.
