Commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination : Debate on racial profiling and incitement to hatred, including in the context of migration

Thank you Mr. President,

This is a joint statement with International Organization for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD), International-lawyers.org and the Geneva Centre for Justice (GICJ).

The current worldwide migration phenomenon is linked to a myriad of human rights issues. It is imperative to address root causes as well as current drivers of mass migration, such as environmental degradation, climate change, and types of conflict to better understand and manage migration flows. Among migrants and refugees, children, women and people with disabilities are most vulnerable, and most targeted regarding abuses and violence. Additional burdens include race, ethnicity, and religion.

Promotion of best practices and added values, such as valuable knowledge and experience, various skill sets, and culture of migrants can curtail and eliminate racial profiling, hatred, xenophobia, racism, discrimination and intolerance towards migrants. As well, enhancing and encouraging quality and accurate human rights education and of the host countries’ local norms and laws, practices and cultural values towards migrants and refugees ensures raised awareness and familiarity of their host environment and lifestyle.

To better protect migrants, we must keep in hindsight that migration and integration, migrants and hosts are in and of themselves two-fold and interrelated.
To the members of the Council, we recommend pursuant to several human rights laws and obligations:
-    Provide quality human rights education and training for border patrols and law enforcement and increase international communication and cooperation on border control and management;
-    Provide accessible education and information on local norms and laws to migrants and refugees upon arrival;
-    Promote two-way education and learning by establishing migrant cultural hubs as platforms for communication and assistance with integration;
-    Provide opportunities for migrants and refugees to exercise their freedom and right of being active participants in society including peace and reconciliation processes;
-    Convene close collaborative work with the SR on torture regarding the link between migrants and torture;
-    Provide adequate and appropriate specialized health care services for victims of abuses and crimes on transit;

Thank you,