Position paper by Dutch non-governmental organisations to the United Nations World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance

Position paper by Dutch non-governmental organisations to the United Nations World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance

Durban, South Africa

Contributing organisations:

Anne Frankstichting
Antidiscriminatie bureau Fryslân
Antidiscriminatie bureau regio Haarlem
CIDI
Commissie Justitia et Pax
De Stem van het Verzet
E-quality
FORUM
Infotheek Missionair Centrum
Jongerenbond
Landelijk Bureau ter bestrijding van Rassendiscriminatie
Landelijk Platform Slavernijverleden
Landelijke Vereniging van antidiscriminatie bureaus en meldpunten
Magenta
Meldpunt Discriminatie Oost
Nederland Bekent Kleur
NJCM, Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists
Ondersteuningskomité illegale arbeiders
Palet
PAREL
Radar
SIM
SPPAR
Stichting Bravo
Stichting Sophiedela
TIYE International
Vrouwenalliantie
Vrouwenbond FNV
WILPF-Netherlands

Introduction

This position paper reflects the views of Dutch NGO’s involved in the UN-world conference against racism. We have concentrated on what we consider to be the crucial themes. This does not in any way imply that we consider themes not mentioned in this paper as unimportant. The Dutch NGO’s would like to emphasise that the drafting of this position paper has been carried out from the principle of equality between men and women in all aspects of the fight against racial discrimination.

Institutional racism

Institutional racism can be defined as follows: the functioning of institutions and establishments in such a way that certain racial or ethnic groups, in comparison to the dominant (white) groups, are discriminated against either directly or indirectly. Institutional racism occurs at various levels within many organisations – in governmental bodies as well as in the private sector – and in different areas, such as the labour market, housing, education, health care, the provision of social and commercial services, politics, policy and legislation. Expressions of institutional racism come in a variety of forms, including practices, habits and behaviour as well as procedures and legislation.

The Dutch NGO’s emphatically request the participating states:

• Adopt measures to combat the institutional racism described above by eliminating structural barriers in society such as poverty, social exclusion, precarious legal residence status, difficult access to the labour market and the lack of visibility in official data.

Multiple discrimination

Central to the realisation of the human rights of women is that discrimination against women and other violations of their rights take place not only on the basis of gender but also on grounds such as race, ethnicity, age, class, nationality, handicap, sexual orientation and health status. The Beijing Declaration has called upon governments to strengthen their efforts to ensure equal rights and fundamental freedoms for all women and girls confronted by the many barriers hindering their empowerment and advancement.

The Dutch NGO’s call upon the participating states to:

• Place multiple discrimination high on the national agenda. States also need to develop a methodology to analyse the violations apparent at the intersection of gender and ethnicity, and to combat and prevent these violations.
• Establish a Platform of Action, fully incorporating the gender dimension, to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all related forms of intolerance, in particular by using specific data on gender and ethnicity.
• Take steps to ensure that the media provide more positive attention to black, migrant and refugee men and women, in order to promote a more positive and more objective representation as an alternative to destructive stereotypes.
• Adopt adequate measures, including legal arrangements, in all spheres, especially in political, social, economic and cultural areas, to combat multiple discrimination by individuals, organisations and companies.

Non-western migrant workers and globalisation

Disproportionate economic development is an important cause of labour migration. The process of increasing globalisation, due to the expansion of communication and transport possibilities, along with increases in capital, trade and migration flows, creates an increase in mutual effects, which in turn increases the level of responsibility required to deal with these issues. Countries with stronger economies, however, often make use of their economic advantage at the expense of countries with weaker economies. One example of this is the upholding of tariff barriers. At the same time, there is a demand in the lower paid sectors of countries with stronger economies for flexible, cheap labour and this work is often carried out by non-western labour migrants. Despite this, many governments continue to be focused primarily on hindering the admittance and residency status of these migrants.

The Dutch NGO's request that governments assume responsibility for:

• The liberalisation of their immigration policies, given that non-western labour migration cannot be viewed as separate from disproportionate global developments of an economic nature and that such inequality is partly caused by western governments.

Restrictive migration policy and racism

A restrictive migration policy can lead to racism and (indirect) discrimination, in regards to which the specific position of women deserves attention. By applying a restrictive migration policy, governments spread among their citizens the impression, that they consider certain groups of foreigners, often non-western foreigners, in principle to be not welcome in their country, unless all sorts of strict regulations are complied with. This can lead to situations where governments, officials and citizens adopt a hostile to discriminatory and even racist position towards non-western foreigners. Furthermore, it can also lead to a distrust of the intentions these foreigners have in applying for residence in another country. It is therefore of great importance that governments clearly indicate that asylum seekers, refugees and migrants are not by definition unwelcome in their states.

The Dutch NGO's therefore request the participating states to:

• Respect and protect all fundamental human rights of migrating workers by unconditionally signing, ratifying and implementing the "Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families" (1990).
• Unconditionally sign and/or ratify the Refugee Treaty (1951) and the associated Protocol (1967) in all cases where this has not yet been done.
• Respect and protect all fundamental human rights of refugees and asylum seekers by, among other things, the implementation of their fundamental social and economic rights such as the provision of adequate housing, food and clothing and access to health care and education.
• Guarantee that asylum seekers, refugees and migrants have access to legal aid.
• Abolish all measures that have as their goal the deterrence of migration and requests for asylum. Such measures include the unnecessary complication of procedures for requesting visa, the practise of initially refusing asylum requests as much as possible and the imprisonment of asylum seekers in detention centres in connection with a fear of asylum seekers shirking deportation orders.
• Assess whether their current immigration legislation and policy is in agreement with both the goals and provisions of the Refugee Treaty and international human rights treaties as ratified by themselves, and if this is not the case, to reform this legislation and policy wherever necessary.

Enforcement of rights

Objectives for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance can only be achieved when rights are actually being enforced.

Therefore, the Dutch NGO’s call upon the participating states to:

• Sign and ratify all international instruments for the advancement of equality and the elimination of racial discrimination and to timely and duely comply with reporting obligations that emerge from such instruments.
• Declare that they acknowledge the individual right of complaint as set out in article 14 of the Anti-racism treaty (ICERD) at the UN-Committee for the elimination of racial discrimination.
• Establish and/or strengthen independent specialised bodies that have the authority to conduct research into individual discrimination complaints and to pass judgement and apply sanctions. These bodies can also have a supervisory role in other areas of discrimination. Furthermore, these bodies need to comply with the 'Principles relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for protection and promotion of Human Rights' adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 20, 1993 (the so-called 'Paris Principles').
• Increase the expertise of the judiciary, so that they can adequately act against racial discrimination in the areas of criminal law, civil law and administrative law.
• Implement and enforce effective, proportionate and deterrent sanctions for breaches of discrimination laws.
• Adopt legal measures reach a proportionate representation of ethnic groups in the work place and in other areas of society. The enforcement of these measures can take place in the form of, among other things, contract compliance.
• Ensure that codes of conduct for combating of discrimination are established.

Slavery, slave trade and reparations

The slave trade, in particular the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and slavery have caused so much suffering and damage that the effects are still noticeable today. The Dutch NGO’s, realising the complexity of the issue, call upon the participating states to arrive at a solution by applying reparations. Within this, an acknowledgement of historical involvement in slavery and the associated processes of national awareness are of crucial importance. This needs to result in activities that give shape and content to this acknowledgement in a structural manner. Compensatory payments are only one aspect of such reparations. Attention also needs to be given to immaterial aspects such as the expression of a public apology, as well as the application of corrections to the education curriculum. Because the effects of slavery differ from region to region, reparations can be formulated differently for the various regions. Naturally, it should be the descendants of the slaves themselves and their countries of origin who, from their own perspectives, indicate the shape of these reparations.

The Dutch NGO’s call upon the participating states to take the following actions as initial steps within the framework of reparations:

• To acknowledge that the slave trade and slavery need to be seen as a crime against humanity.
• To establish a national monument of remembrance to the history of slavery.
• The establishment of a scientific institute of the slave history of women and men, at both national and international level. This institute should carry out research and produce publications on the history of slavery and its consequences. As well as this, the institute should develop education, debate and activities that should lead to the deconstruction, reconstruction and re-writing of the history of slavery in all forms of education. The implementation associated with this should also be one of the tasks of the institute. The institute needs to be identifiable and clearly recognisable to the descendants of slaves, both in staff as well as in the products realised.
• The establishment of such an institute and monument in both the countries that took part in slavery and slave trade as well as the countries where slaves originated from.
• To guarantee that valid knowledge about the history of slavery becomes integrated into all knowledge sources including policy drafts of governments, the media and other publications.
• To determine that states that had a share in the slave trade and slavery as keepers or acquirers of slaves make available the financial means to realise the above mentioned objectives.