The Fight against Racism and the United Nations

No country can claim to be free of racism, racism is a global concern, and tackling it requires a universal effort.

 - Durban Declaration and Programme of Action

Cape Town, 1982

The United Nations has been fighting racism and racial discrimination since its creation. In the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, written in 1945, it is stated that: ‘We the Peoples of the United Nations Determined […] to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small…’ 

Secretary-General António Guterres calls racism "a deeply rooted global evil [...] Wherever we see racism, we must condemn it without reservation, without hesitation, without qualification."

 

Portraits of: a man from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China; a girl from Mali; a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon; and a man from South Africa.

On December 21, 1965, the UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), marking a groundbreaking step in the global effort to eradicate racism. As the first of the UN's core international human rights treaties, ICERD set the stage for future human rights advancements. Its commitment to eliminating racial discrimination and promoting equality sustains the ongoing fight against racist ideas and practices, aiming to foster global understanding and unity free from racial segregation.

 

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. makes a statement to reporters at UN Headquarters in April 1967, before meeting with Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, Under-Secretary for Special Political Affairs at the United Nations. With him are Dr. Benjamin Spock, and other leaders of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. 

KwaZulu-Natal (left) and Nyanga "township", near Cape Town, 1985

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March, the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid "pass laws" in 1960. 

Mourners carrying coffins of those who were killed by the South African police during the 1985 observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, at Langa "township" in Uitenhage, South Africa.

The UN played a significant role in dismantling apartheid in South Africa, condemning it as a "crime against humanity". In 1979 the General Assembly decided that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, would be organized annually. 

In May 1985 the Special Committee against Apartheid met to honour Stevie Wonder. On 25 March, that year Mr. Wonder had accepted a Motion Picture Academy Award for the best song in the name of Nelson Mandela, at the time serving a life sentence in South Africa. In doing so, Mr. Wonder expressed his solidarity with all political prisoners and the oppressed people in South Africa. As a result, his music was banned in that country. Here he performs at the 2012 UN Day Concert at UN Headquarters in New York. 

Nelson Mandela addresses the Special Committee Against Apartheid in the General Assembly Hall on 22 June, 1990.

The first "Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination" (1973 - 1982) aimed to eradicate apartheid, racial prejudice, and discrimination worldwide through national, regional, and international measures. UN continued this action with a Second Decade (1983–1993) and a Third Decade (1993–2003), focusing on implementing programs of action against racism, xenophobia, and related intolerance.

Soweto, 1982

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), adopted at the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2001, is the UN’s blueprint to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance globally.

Hundreds of refugees from Libya line up for food at a transit camp near the Tunisia-Libya border, 2011. Racism and xenophobia have harmful consequences for migrants, who may already find themselves in precarious situations, particularly migrant women and girls, and have profound effects on communities (left).

Refugees in Kutupalong Refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, 2018, as a Security Council delegation visited the camp. The United Nations has described the Rohingya from Myanmar as “the most persecuted minority in the world.” The Rohingya crisis is considered a severe form of institutionalized racism, ethnic discrimination, and state-sponsored persecution that has led to accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing (right).

Racism and migration are deeply intertwined, with racial discrimination frequently shaping immigration policies, border enforcement, and the treatment of migrants, refugees, and minorities.

Items are left behind at the port of Lampedusa, Italy, from a boat of migrants who were lost at sea for over four days. 

In the last few years the United Nations has intensified its focus on racial justice, shifting from historical condemnation of apartheid to addressing systemic, modern-day racism. UN efforts, led by the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), focus on "recognition, justice, and development" for people of African descent.

Viola Ford Fletcher, 109 years old survivor of the Tulsa/Black Wall Street massacre, visits the Ark of Return at United Nations Headquarters in 2023. The Tulsa/Black Wall Street massacre was a white supremacist terrorist massacre that took place in May 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America. The Ark of Return is a permanent memorial in acknowledgement of the tragedy and in consideration of the legacy of slavery and the Transatlantic slave trade at UN Headquarters in New York. 

The first International Decade for People of African Descent was held 2015-2024, recognizing that people of African descent represent a distinct group whose human rights must be promoted and protected. The recently launched Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025–2034) aims to advance recognition, justice, and development. The second decade focuses on providing redress, addressing environmental racism, and ensuring digital equity.

Women and children search a garbage dump for cans to sell in Timor-Leste, 2009.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and have the potential to contribute constructively to the development and well-being of their societies. Any doctrine of racial superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust, and dangerous and must be rejected, together with theories that attempt to determine the existence of separate human races.

Protests against racism and police violence after the death of George Floyd in New York City in June 2020 (left). New York City Police Officers look on as protests are under way (right). The death of George Floyd in May 2020 galvanized people worldwide to protest racism and discrimination and prompted global discussions on racial justice, including at the United Nations.

The United Nations strongly condemns the continuing violent practices and excessive use of force by law enforcement agencies against Africans and people of African descent and condemns structural racism in criminal justice systems around the world. The Organization further acknowledges the Transatlantic Slave Trade as one of the darkest chapters in our human history and upholds human dignity and equality for the victims of slavery, the slave trade and colonialism, in particular people of African descent in the African diaspora.

Gorée Island, off the coast of Dakar in Senegal, stands as a powerful symbol of the transatlantic slave trade. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The House of Slaves, a late 18th century building, was used as a holding centre for enslaved people held captive in cramped quarters before their forced embarkation for the Americas (left).

On the ground floor, at the end of a long, dark corridor, the “Door of No Return” opens directly onto the sea, at the very point where the enslaved people were taken before their crossing to the West Indies, Brazil, Cuba, the United States or Haiti, among other places (right). (Photos from 2024)

The Transatlantic Slave Trade subjected African women and girls to sexual and reproductive violence - including rape, forced prostitution, and forced childbearing - practices that became a driving force behind their resistance. 
 

Portraits of : a girl in Pakistan, an Afghan boy in Peshawar, Pakistan; a girl in Sao Paulo, Brazil; and a woman with child in Mali.

Despite achievements, racism continues to affect communities across the world, with rising racist rhetoric, discrimination against migrants and minority groups, and persistent inequalities rooted in historical power imbalances. Conflicts and crises in several regions also demonstrate how discrimination and dehumanization can fuel instability and injustice. The United Nations and the international community continue to work toward dismantling systemic racism and building societies founded on dignity, equality, and justice for all.

The UN Photo Library holds an extensive collection of images documenting the work of the United Nations. For detailed information on the images in this photo essay, follow the links below. Images are listed in order of appearance.

UN Photo/DB: UN7757257, UN Photo/John Isaac: UN7768619, UN Photo/Marco Dormino: UN7271538, UN Photo/John Isaac: UN7707907, UN Photo: UN7557896, UN Photo/Teddy Chen: UN7736105, UN Photo/Peter Magubane: UN7771704, UN Photo: UN7720100, UN Photo: UN7720086, UN Photo/JC McIlwaine: UN7304730, UN Photo/Pernaca Sudhakaran: UN7769431, UN Photo: UN7778970, UN Photo/OCHA/David Ohana: UN7389280, UN Photo/Caroline Gluck: UN780182, UN Photo/UNHCR/Phil Behan: UN7389297, UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe: UN7997184, UN Photo/Martine Perret: UN7571032, UN Photo/Evan Schneider: UN7860475 & UN7860673, UN Photo/Mark Garten: UN71081114 & UN71082571, UN Photo/Evan Schneider: UN7395866, UN Photo/John Isaac: UN7757789, UN Photo/Claudio Edinger: UN7779417, UN Photo/Marco Dormino: UN7196862