Al-Jaafari: Racial discrimination is a global scourge that negatively affects human rights

New York-Sana

Today, the United Nations General Assembly convened a high-level meeting to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Other Related Forms of Intolerance.

The President of the General Assembly at its 76th session, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the President of South Africa made statements emphasizing the importance of the Declaration and its program of work.

Dr. Bashar Al-Jaafari, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, delivered the statement of the Syrian Arab Republic, in which he affirmed that the Syrian delegation welcomes the convening of this international conference, which is a prominent event in the struggle to improve the lives of millions of people who are victims of discrimination and intolerance around the world.

The Durban Declaration and Program of Action was adopted by consensus after a wide series of discussions in which the delegation of Syria actively and in good faith participated and formed a new ground and an important new framework to guide governments and other stakeholders in their efforts to combat racism and racial discrimination.

Al-Jaafari explained that while progress has been made since 2001, there is a continued need for genuine political will to commit to the committed implementation of the Declaration and its Program of Action, which includes far-reaching measures to combat racism in all its manifestations, including promoting education, combating poverty, achieving development, improving treatment and resources for victims of racism and supporting respect for the rule of law. Law and human rights.

Al-Jaafari pointed out that the recent period witnessed a steady escalation in the intensity of populist nationalist rhetoric and extremist racial supremacy ideologies in some countries, noting that in the midst of the global emergency represented by the outbreak of the “Covid 19” pandemic, he unleashed a tsunami of xenophobia, fanaticism, misinformation, Islamophobia and defamation of the categories of victims that The Durban Declaration and Program of Action identified it as immigrants, refugees and people of African and Asian descent in light of the politicization of the Corona virus by some, in reference to former US President Donald Trump's calling of the virus as "Chinese" and an attempt to employ it for purposes that contradict the objectives of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action.

Al-Jaafari continued: “In the context of the continuation of its anti-Syrian policies, the ruling Turkish party, along with a group of supportive Turkish political parties and others in some Western countries, have been feeding feelings of hostility against Syrian refugees for a few years, as they were subjected to physical harm and their properties were vandalized and burned, and they became a trump card that they exploited. These parties are in order to achieve political gains and win more votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections, and the Syrian refugees have turned in these disputes to fuel a political war between international parties by exploiting them as a cheap political blackmail card to pressure the European Union.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants stressed the importance of removing obstacles to the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, especially peoples who are subject to colonial domination or other forms of foreign domination or foreign occupation that have negative effects on their social and economic development.

Al-Jaafari pointed out, in this context, that the Israeli occupation authorities continue their racist and discriminatory policies against the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan by violating their right to self-determination and their full legitimate rights, especially the right to life, work, health, education, mobility, property and a decent standard of living while the Palestinians are still languishing under the yoke of the Israeli occupation. They are subjected to the most extreme practices of discrimination and racism, and we must not forget that occupied Palestine is the last spot on earth where these policies are applied after the fall of the apartheid project in South Africa.

Al-Jaafari stressed that the countries that suffered from these colonial settlement projects, especially African countries, have the full right to demand the governments of those countries that were adopting these discriminatory projects to pay appropriate compensation for the era of pain, looting and killing that affected them for centuries.

Al-Jaafari stressed that the practice of European companies’ policy of kidnapping millions of Africans and transporting them to the American continent is still present and is active on a regular basis, away from being held accountable for the crimes they committed against humanity, and no apology has been issued for the bloodshed and kidnapping of millions.

Al-Jaafari considered that the destruction of the statues of slavery dealers in some American states following the American police killing of American citizen George Floyd was a clear message that memory does not die and that the right to combat slavery symbols does not die either.

Al-Jaafari concluded by saying: “Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance represent a serious global scourge that profoundly negatively affects the enjoyment of human rights and requires a unified and comprehensive response from the international community,” stressing that Syria is committed to making all efforts that must be made to eradicate this scourge and calls for providing The necessary political will and international cooperation at all levels to address all forms and manifestations of racism in order to implement the Durban Declaration and Program of Action.