High-level Commemorative Event to mark the 60th Anniversary of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

 

During its 116th session (17 November to 5 December 2025), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) will hold a High-level Event to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Over the past six decades since the adoption of ICERD by General Assembly resolution 2106 (XX), progress has been made in the fight against racial discrimination at international, regional, national and local levels. While Member States committed themselves “to adopt all necessary measures for speedily eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations”, progress has not unfolded at the pace or to the extent envisioned, and many hard-won gains remain at risk of reversal. Today, achievements are increasingly jeopardized by disregard for international human rights law, including ICERD, and by attacks on international human rights institutions, which weaken the foundations of the international system designed to uphold rights and prevent atrocity crimes. Conflicts with ethnic and identity dimensions, the persistence of colonial and slavery legacies, the resurgence of platforms and organizations promoting racial hatred, xenophobia, and doctrines of racial superiority, raise profound concern. Persistent and intersecting forms of discrimination – based on race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, language and other grounds – continue to affect people of African descent, people of Asian descent, Indigenous Peoples, Roma, minorities, as well as migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. At the same time, measures to advance racial equality – including special measures, reparations and education against racism and intolerance – are increasingly contested, underscoring the urgency of renewed and strengthened action.