International day for the Elimination of Racial Discriminations
The 2023 theme of the International Day focuses on the urgency of combatting racism and racial discrimination, 75 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Seventy-five years ago, for the first time, the international community agreed on a set of common values and acknowledged that rights are inherent to every single human being and not granted by the State. These rights are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a blueprint for international human rights norms.
The UDHR states that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms, without distinction of any kind, such as race and colour, among others. However, racism and racial discrimination continue to affect people all over the world. The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the UDHR should give States an impetus to take prompt and robust steps, in law and in practice, to advance equality and combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has invited all member statesas part of the Human Rights 75 initiative, to combat racial discrimination by committing to take specific and urgent actions.