Racism

Racism is the discriminatory belief that a group of people have characteristics that make them superior or inferior compared to others. These characteristics are often physical, including skin colour or facial features. They can also include language or place of birth. Racism also refers to the political ideology or anthropological doctrine founded in that feeling of superiority or racial hate.

The most important international instrument against racism is the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and entered into force in 1969.

Article 1 establishes that racial discrimination ’shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life’.

Racist behaviours can be evident and openly discriminatory. Throughout history, racism has been the cause of human rights violations and it has been used to justify terrible events, such as slavery, apartheid, or the supremacist Nazi theory to kill Jewish people.

But there are also more subtle forms of racism and a set of disadvantages and mechanism that have been historically and systematically perpetuated. These continue to reproduce discrimination and inequality today. For the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), these less-explicit forms of discrimination are also known as invisible forms of racial discrimination, hidden discrimination, and systemic racism.

Another word, micro-aggressions, also alludes to the everyday expressions of racism. These are often unnoticed, for example, when using expressions such as black market or black sheep as something negative.