International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD) 2022 will be observed on Monday, 21st March. In the current year 2022, IDERD celebrations will take place for the sixth time.
Description of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Anti Racism Day)
The United Nations has added March 21 to its list of International Days that encourages people to disown and disregard racial discrimination. The UN resolution (A/RES/2142 (XXI)) that was adopted on 26 October 1966, declares that any kind of racial discrimination is condemnable and the global community is determined to eliminate racial discrimination from its roots wherever it exists in the world.
Thus, March 21 is an acknowledged International Day as IDERD that is celebrated worldwide to eliminate racial discrimination. On March 21, 2022 the sixth IDER Day will be commemorated.
IDERD 2022 Conference
A half-day virtual conference will be held at ARCD Office on 19 March 2022, to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Theme of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2022 (IDERD)
“VOICES FOR ACTION AGAINST RACISM” is the theme of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2022.
This theme elaborates that the time has gone when people were judged by their complexion and financial status. This century is the century of super-humans, and super-humans never underestimate their brethren. All the members of humankind are equal and respectable. Don’t let anyone to disrespect anyone else. The current theme of Anti Racism Day guides us to come together and encourage and strengthen people for raising voices against racism. We should collectively work to raise awareness against discrimination of anyone due to his race or ethnicity.
While the theme of this day for the previous year 2021 was
“The Young Generation Standing against Racism”
What is Racial Discrimination?
Racial discrimination is the behavior of any person towards another person influenced by the racial association of any party. Your act of scowling a person from another race or ethnicity is encouraged by the racial association you have in your mind. The racial association becomes condemnable when we start discriminating against others on the basis of this association.
Public Activities
Public ceremonies are held by the governments of Europe, America, Australia, Africa, Asia, and non-governmental organizations. In schools, colleges, and universities, people reinstate that they would not let racism prevail. Popular speakers appear before their audiences and highlight the curse brought by racism. Public awareness programs are also held on TV and Radio. Social media platforms play a vital role to spread awareness against racism. Rallies and long marches are also arranged in many countries of the world.
History of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
It was on March 21, 1960, when South African police opened fire at a peaceful protest by the Blacks in Sharpeville. Around 69 people were slain in the bloodbath that is called the Sharpeville Massacre. Those people had gathered to protest against the “Pass Law” that was imposed by the Whites on the Blacks. The massacre that was carried out by the police stirred the whole world and everyone was afraid where that racial conflicts would lead the whole world. People of almost all the communities were fed up with the atrocities of racism, but they did not know how to eliminate this curse.
Racism always divides people and brings anarchy and it is already doing this wherever it exists. Remembering the massacre of 1960, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 March as an International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1966 and insisted upon the global community to intensify its efforts to eliminate racial discrimination wherever and in whatever form it exists.
The day started getting popularity as the global community increased its crusades against racial discrimination. The Durban Declaration and Program of Action (2001) are considered the most influential, comprehensive, and authoritative program to combat racism. This program was produced in the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance on 31 August 2011, in Durban, South Africa.
One more development appeared in 2009 when a global Durbin Review Conference was held to review the achieved progress in the fight against racism and too determined the future direction and steps. Since the most apparent cruel picture of racism had been in Africa, therefore racism was largely measured in Africa. The 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action was also arranged in New York in 2011, and this year was also celebrated as the International Year for People of African Descent. Finally, the United Nations proclaimed the years from 2013 to 2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent with the help of its resolution 68/237
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What was the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination theme 2019?
The theme of this day in 2019 was “Mitigating and countering national populism and extreme supremacist ideology.” which inspires people to think beyond the racial and national borders. No one is superior in this world and no one can claim that he/she is more beautiful than the others as the definition of beauty in itself is vague and undecided. Racial conflicts were popular in the previous centuries and quarreling with someone on the basis of racial difference is a moronic act in the contemporary century. The previous year’s theme was also designed to achieve such a type of world where racial discrimination or the feeling of racial superiority has no place.
Quotes related to the Day
- “I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream - “In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.”
― Toni Morrison - “Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
― Muhammad Ali - “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird - “Our true nationality is mankind.”
― H.G. Wells - “Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.”
― Kofi Annan - “No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them”
― Elie Wiesel - “Concerning non-violence: it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.”
― Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements
Hash-tags
#FightRacism
#AntiRacismDay
#InternationalDayfortheEliminationofRacialDiscrimination, #UNInternationalDays, #AfghanPeaceTreaty, #RacialDiscrimination,
#UnitedNations.
