International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

In 1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a program of activities to be undertaken for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination deciding that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, would be organized annually in all States.

Since then, the apartheid system in South Africa has been dismantled. Racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries, and the UN has built an international framework for fighting racism, guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The Convention is now nearing universal ratification, yet still, in all regions, too many individuals, communities, and societies suffer from the injustice and stigma that racism brings.

This day is a public holiday in South Africa, called Human Rights Day.