SWITZERLAND, GENEVA; Fiji has been represented at an urgent debate on racism held in Geneva yesterday by the United Nations Human Rights Council with the UNHRC 43rd session having resumed this week on Monday 15th June.
Organised at the request of the African Group, the urgent debate addressed the structural and proximate causes of racial discrimination that prevails worldwide with tremendous impact on the enjoyment of human rights especially by People of African Descent.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet; the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed; the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, Ms. Tendayi Achiume; and Mr. Philonise, the brother of the late George Floyd, opened the urgent debate and spoke on the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism and police brutality and violence against peaceful protestors.
Representing Fiji at this important UNHRC event, Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and Other International Organisations in Geneva, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, spoke on Fiji`s experiences and challenges in the journey to create an equal and diverse country despite political upheavals in the past.
Ambassador Khan said that Fiji`s experiences had taught its people much about institutionalised racism, and highlighted:
“When a country’s political and social fabric judges individuals not on the basis of their individual worth but on the basis of their ethnicity, and when the legal system and the attitudes of those who run that legal system, ignore substantive equality before the law to prefer differential treatment on the basis of race and ethnicity, racism is institutionalised. We have had to face the unpleasant reality of our historical past, in order to make meaningful change. Fiji’s 2013 Constitutional reform and our legal reforms, are intended to remove systemic discrimination,” Ambassador Khan said.
She drew the UNHRC’s attention on the important actions that must be taken to remove the institutionalised racism.
“Even the best legal and Constitutional declarations of equality are not enough to remove institutionalised racism. Institutions are run, essentially, by individuals, who often believe in the privilege and exclusivity of particular ethnic groups. Institutions, including law enforcement agencies must take active steps to remove conscious and unconscious bias from recruitment policies, promotion policies, and the delivery of services.
“It is not enough for those who hold leadership to say that they are against racism. They must have strong and effective policies to sanction those who are guilty of racist behaviour within the organisation. Such policies must recognise intersectional and multiple forms of discrimination,” Ambassador Khan said.
Many states and other stakeholders that spoke during the debate, related the debate to the recent death in police custody of George Floyd, and to the global protests inspired by his death, against racism and police abuse of power, and applauded the leadership of the African Group in calling for this Urgent Debate.
Many states spoke to their own racial history and highlighted that racism continues to be a global reality. States stood in solidarity in reiterating their commitment to strengthening their efforts in combating racism and racially motivated violence.
As a result of this Urgent Debate, the United Nations Human Rights Council will proceed in the coming days to consider the African Group’s resolution on ‘The promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against police brutality and other violations of human rights’.