Programme for the observance in 1971 of the International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination

XXIV. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE THIRD COMMITTEE
2544. Programme for the observance in 1971 of the International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination

The General Assembly, Reaffirming its firm resolve to achieve the total and unconditional elimination of racial discrimination and racism, against which the conscience and sense of justice of mankind have long been aroused and which in our time represent a serious obstacle to further progress and to the strengthening of international peace and security, Recalling its decisions and the decisions of other United Nations organs designed to combat racism and condemning the policy of apartheid and racial discrimination as being incompatible with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and constituting a crime against humanity, and recalling further its repeated appeals to the States concerned to take appropriate measures to eliminate racial discrimination, apartheid, nazism and other manifestations of racism, Noting with satisfaction the entry into force of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,[1] which opens up new possibilities in the struggle against racism, Considering that, in the interests of peace and the social progress of peoples and to ensure that all enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination on such grounds as race, colour, national or ethnic origin, new and still more vigorous and intensified efforts should be made, both at the international and the national levels, to achieve the rapid and total elimination of racial discrimination, including the policy of apartheid, nazism and all of its contemporary forms, as well as other manifestations of racial intolerance, Referring to resolution XXIV entitled "International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination", adopted by the International Conference on Human Rights held at Teheran in 1968,[2] and also General Assembly resolution 2446 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968 entitled "Measures to achieve the rapid and total elimination of all forms of racial discrimination in general and of the policy of apartheid in particular", in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General, in consultation with Member States, to prepare a programme for the observance in 1971 of the International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination,

1. Designates the year 1971 as International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination;

2. Considers that the International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination should be observed in the name of the ever-growing struggle against racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations and in the name of international solidarity with those struggling against racism;

3. Approves the programme for the observance of the International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination prepared by the Secretary-General[3] and calls upon all States to co-operate in every possible way in its implementation;

4. Urgently appeals to all States to intensify and expand their efforts at the national and the international levels towards ensuring the rapid and total eradication of racial discrimination, including the policy of apartheid, nazism and all of its contemporary forms as well as other manifestations of racism;

5. Invites the organs of the United Nations and the specialized agencies concerned to co-operate and participate in the preparatory work and in the observance of the International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its twenty-fifth session a progress report on the preparations for the International Year for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination based on any information which he may receive from States, the organs of the United Nations and the specialized agencies concerned.

1829th plenary meeting,
11 December 1969.


[1] The Convention entered into force on 4 January 1969. [2] Final Act of the International Conference on Human Rights (United Nations publication, Sales No.: E.68.)CIV.2), p. 18. [3] Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-fourth Session, Annexes, agenda item 55, document A/7649.
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