General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Research Report
Forum:
General Assembly 3 (GA3)
Issue:
Elimination of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance;
Author:
Melissa Kikkert
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Introduction
The GA3 is the third committee of the General Assembly, or the Social,
Humanitarian and Cultural committee. It will focus on the examination of human
rights questions, including reports of the special procedures of the Human Rights
Council which was established in 2006. The Committee also discusses questions
relating to the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous
issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms
through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and the right to selfdetermination. The Committee also addresses important social development
questions such as issues related to youth, family, ageing, persons with disabilities,
crime prevention, criminal justice, and international drug control.
This research report will discuss the issue of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance. It will specify the different forms of racism, a
part of the history and the possible solutions for the problems we are facing
today. Western society has been in a huge debate lately with people like Donald
Trump, Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen voicing their opinion, which has led to a
lot of controversy. Furthermore, the large influx of refugees has been causing a lot
of conflict in Europe as well. The lines between freedom of speech and racist
opinions are becoming more blurred. Racism, racial discrimination and
xenophobia are issues that are hard to define and even harder to solve.
Definition of key terms
Racism
The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or
qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or
superior to another race or races.
Xenophobia
Dislike of or prejudice against people that are ‘different’. Xenophobia and racism
often overlap, but are distinct phenomena. Whereas racism usually entails
distinction based on physical characteristic differences, such as skin colour, hair
type, facial features, etc. Xenophobia implies behaviour based on the idea that the
other is foreign to or originates from outside the community or nation.
Racial discrimination
See Racism.
2
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Slavery
Slavery is a legal or economic system in which principles of property law are
applied to humans allowing them to be classified as property, to be owned,
bought and sold accordingly, and they cannot withdraw unilaterally from the
arrangement.
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically
the Americas (including nearby islands such as those of the Caribbean and
Bermuda).
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade took place across the Atlantic
Ocean from the 15th through to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those
enslaved that were transported to the New World, many on the triangular trade
route and its Middle Passage, were West Africans from the central and western
parts of the continent sold by other western Africans to western European slave
traders, with a small minority being captured directly by the slave traders in
coastal raids, and brought to the Americas.
White supremacy
White supremacy or white supremacism is a form of racism centred upon the
belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior in certain
characteristics, traits, and attributes to people of other racial backgrounds and
that therefore whites should politically, economically and socially rule nonwhites. The term is also typically used to describe a political ideology that
perpetuates and maintains the social, political, historical and/or industrial
domination by white people (as evidenced by historical and contemporary
sociopolitical structures such as the Atlantic Slave Trade, Jim Crow laws in the
United States, and apartheid).
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine
the survival of the Union or independence for the Confederacy. Among the 34
states in January 1861, seven Southern slave states individually declared their
secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America.
The Confederacy, often simply called the South, grew to include eleven states, and
although they claimed thirteen states and additional western territories, the
Confederacy was never diplomatically recognized by any foreign country. The
states that remained loyal and did not declare secession were known as the Union
or the North. The war had its origin in the factious issue of slavery, especially the
extension of slavery into the western territories.
3
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery, whether formal or informal. In
Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historical movement to
end the African and Indian slave trade and set slaves free. King Charles I of Spain,
usually known as Emperor Charles V, following the example of the Swedish
monarch, passed a law which would have abolished colonial slavery in 1542,
although this law was not passed in the largest colonial states, and so was not
enforced. Later, in the late 18th century, English and American Quakers began to
question the morality of slavery.
Slave Trade Act 1807
The Slave Trade Act 1807 or the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807, was an Act
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 25 March 1807, with the title
of "An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade". The act abolished the slave trade
in the British Empire, in particular the Atlantic slave trade, and also encouraged
British action to press other European states to abolish their slave trades, but it
did not abolish slavery itself. Many of the Bill's supporters thought the Act would
lead to the death of slavery, but it was not until 26 years later that slavery itself
was actually abolished. Slavery on English soil was unsupported in English law
and that position was confirmed in Somersett's Case in 1772, but it remained
legal in most of the British Empire until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
Glen Grey Act
The Glen Grey Act passed in 1894 in Cape Colony, and had the effect of
diminishing the land rights of Africans in scheduled areas (part of the Apartheid).
4
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
General overview
Racism can be divided into different categories: Institutional, economic,
symbolic/modern, colour blindness and othering. Institutional racism refers to
the discrimination by governments, corporations, religions or educational
institutions.
Economic racism is caused by past racism and affects the current generation
through unconscious racist attitudes and actions by a lot of the population. This
kind of racism is focused specifically on the wealth and wage gap between
different races. People of colour usually have a lower chance of getting a job and
when they do get the job they get paid less than the average white person.
Furthermore there is the problem of most executive, professional and managerial
positions being held by white and Asian people. Economic racism is most present
in Western countries and closely related to white supremacy (see Definition of
key terms).
Please notice that this graph is based on the situation in the United States of
America.
5
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Comparison of average weekly earnings by race, please notice that this graph is
based on the situation in the United States of America.
Symbolic/modern racism is the racism that evolved from the past, more
aggressive form of racism. This type of racism is way more subtle, i.e. a person
not showing a prejudiced attitude, but maintaining one inwardly. Or displaying
subtle prejudiced behaviours such as attributing qualities to others based on
racial stereotypes, and evaluating the same behaviour differently based on the
race of the person. This type of racism has close relations with economic racism,
seeing as the denial of a job to a person because of their race originates from
symbolic/modern racism.
Cultural racism is all about finding certain cultures superior and others inferior,
including languages, food, tradition, etc. These ideas lines up almost directly with
xenophobic ideas: Seeing the different culture as an out-group, while seeing your
own culture as the in-group and thus superior group (see ‘Definition of key
terms').
Othering means setting a norm, most of the times centred around white traditions
and standards, and considering everything that differs from this norm as ‘other’.
These kinds of norms create a big gap between people and it can be very harmful
for those who are ‘othered’. An example of something that flows from this kind of
these norms is the phenomenon ‘whitewashing’. Whitewashing is a thing that
happens quite frequently Whitewashing refers to the act of a woman (or man, but
6
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
more frequently woman) of colour being represented in the media as “anglicized”
or “whitewashed”, with lighter-coloured, straighter hair, lighter makeup,
coloured contacts and often shrinking figures. The mainstream beauty ideal is
almost exclusively white, making it all the more unattainable for women of
colour.
Beyoncé on the red carpet (left) and in a l’Oreal advertisement (right).
Colour blindness is way harder to define than the other forms of racism, because
it’s mainly a passive form of racism. Most colour blind people don’t even realize
they are being (passively) racist. Colour blindness is the disregard of racial
characteristics in social interaction, this means a person won’t look at a person’s
race before making a decision. This is harmful, because while it might not be a
direct racist approach, this kind of attitude also forgets the racism these people
are facing. At an individual level, people with "colour blind prejudice" reject racist
ideology, but also reject systemic policies intended to fix institutional racism.
Racism has been around almost through the entirety of human history. Especially
the past 500-1000 years have been influenced majorly by racism, particularly the
racist ideas of Westerns toward non-Westerners. One of the most obvious
example of this kind of racism is slavery. In the Americas slavery started at least
one revolution and one civil war and numerous rebellions. Especially Portugal
and Spain played important roles in the import and export of African slaves:
Portugal was one of the earliest colonizers of the Americas and the Spanish
7
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
colonies were the first Europeans to use African slaves in the New World. Spain
also fought the native population of the New World and used them as forced
labour. The South Atlantic and Caribbean economic system was centred around
making goods to sell in Europe. The biggest Atlantic slave traders were the
Portuguese, British, French, Spanish and Dutch empire.
An example of an act of xenophobia is World War II, with a mass extermination of
different groups of people such as Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Disabled and
many more. The Nazi’s saw these groups as the ‘out-group’.
A different example of racism would be the Apartheid in South-Africa, which was
system of racial segregation which was enforced through legislation by the
National Party (who governed the country from 1948 to 1994). Under apartheid,
the rights, associations and movements of the majority of black inhabitants and
other ethnic groups were decreased.
Stereotypes are also a harmful and a key element in what racism is today.
Stereotypes in movies, TV-series and other forms of pop culture are only
enforcing racist ideas, originate from cultural racism and enforce institutional
racism. By displaying certain types of groups in stereotypical ways, these ideas
will be forced upon the new generation, immediately giving them prejudiced
ideas about these groups.
Lastly, the problem of police brutality in the United States of America is a
confirmation of the institutional racism present in society. In 2015 the American
police killed at least 101 unarmed black people in 2015, more than any other
race. Nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as
unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to underreporting, and
only 8 of the 101 cases resulted in officer(s) being charged with a crime.
8
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Graph of the races of unarmed people killed by police. Please notice that this graph
is based on the situation in the United States.
Major organizations involved
OHCHR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
represents the world's commitment to universal ideals of human dignity. They
have a unique mandate from the international community to promote and protect
all human rights. http://ohchr.org/EN/Pages/Home.aspx
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization
made up of roughly 400 staff members around the globe. Its staff consists of
human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists, and
academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Established in 1978, Human
9
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Rights Watch is known for its accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, effective
use of media, and targeted advocacy, often in partnership with local human rights
groups. https://www.hrw.org/
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), or simply "the Klan", is the name of three distinct past
and present movements in the United States that have advocated extremist
reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and antiimmigration (see Definition of key terms), historically expressed through
terrorism aimed at groups or individuals whom they opposed. All three
movements have called for the "purification" of American society, and all are
considered right wing extremist organizations.
Front National
The National Front (French: Front National, FN) is a socially conservative,
nationalist political party in France. Its major policies include economic
protectionism, a zero tolerance approach to law and order issues, and opposition
to immigration. A Eurosceptic party, the FN has opposed the European Union
since its creation in 1993. Most political scholars place the FN on the far right.
PVV
The Party for Freedom (Dutch: Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a right-wing
populist political party in the Netherlands. With program items like
administrative detention and strong assimilationist stance on the integration of
immigrants into Dutch society, the Party for Freedom breaks from the established
centre-right parties in the Netherlands. In addition, the party is consistently
Eurosceptic and since early July 2012, according to its then presented program
for the elections a few months later on September 12, even strongly advocating
withdrawal from the EU.
Timeline of related events
1807: The Slave Trade Act of 1807 passes in parliament of the United Kingdom.
1814: The Netherlands outlaws slave trade.
1835: Treaty between Britain and France to abolish slave trade.
1835: Treaty between Britain and Denmark to abolish slave trade.
1836: Portugal abolishes transatlantic slave trade.
10
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
1861-1865: Starting April 12, the American Civil War was fought between the
United States and a Confederacy of breakaway slave states.
1862: Treaty between United States and Britain for the suppression of the slave
trade (African Slave Trade Treaty Act).
1863: Slavery abolished in Dutch colonies Surinam (33,000 freed) and the
Antilles (12,000 freed).
1894: Glen Gray Act passes in Cape Colony
1939-1945: World War II
1948: The National Party is elected as the governing party.
2014: Shooting of Michael Brown
Possible solutions
New ways to eradicate racism are needed. With the new forms of racism being
harder to identify and harder to solve, solutions made in the past are not
applicable anymore. But how do we solve issues that are hard to distinguish?
How do we get rid of elements that are so woven into western society and
culture?
Also, how do we eradicate the forms that are easier to define? One might think of
ending all acts of slavery or separation of different groups. Although slavery is
now de jure illegal in all countries, de facto practices akin to it continue today in
many places throughout the world. Getting rid of these types of racist acts will be
a key step in the ending of racism today.
Furthermore we will have to take into account that people are allowed to express
their opinions, but where does freedom of speech end and racism start? Different
types of cultures have different definitions of wrong and right, uniting these ideas
will be very hard.
Possible solutions might be providing more chances and opportunities for the
oppressed groups or educating future generations on certain topics to gradually
get rid of the institutionalized racism present in modern day society.
Use this document to get inspired for possible solutions (the actual solutions start
at page 30):
http://www.un.org/en/letsfightracism/pdfs/United%20against%20Racism_Engl
ish_web.pdf
11
General Assembly 3
CalsMUN 2016
Bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade
http://archive.adl.org/hate-patrol/racism.html#.VolNI1mGdfY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_wage_gap_in_the_United_States
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/internationalmigration/glossary/xenophobia/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
http://www.beautyredefined.net/beauty-whitewashed-how-white-ideals-excludewomen-of-color/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
http://www.un.org/en/letsfightracism/pdfs/United%20against%20Racism_English_w
eb.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Grey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown
http://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid_legislation
12