The 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council

9 September – 11 October 2024

Item 9: Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance: follow-up to and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action

2 October 2024

Statement of the International Organization for The Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination and Geneva International Centre for Justice

Delivered by Mildred Asiimwe

Thank you, Mr President.

The Forum report details the inequalities in education between the global north and the global south, with the scales tipped unfairly against the latter.

Although there have been advances towards increasing access to education in recent decades, the Global Education Monitoring Report of 2020 highlighted that racial inequality remains a hindrance in educational attendance and attainment amongst people of African descent.

Racial discrimination is not only present among students but also in educational institutions. For example, the World Bank reported that in some universities in developed countries, students from ethnic and racial minority groups are more likely to be labelled “at risk”, while one in three students of African descent are reported to be victims of racial discrimination by their peers.

EAFORD and Geneva International Centre for Justice urge the Forum, through its mechanisms, to support States in implementing education policies that support racially integrated schools, ensure diversity among teachers and other education actors, and, be deliberate in addressing implicit biases that hinder equitable access to education by people of African descent.

Thank you.

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