GENEVA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Two UN human rights experts on Thursday urged states to take urgent, concerted action to achieve racial equality and stop using any nationalist populist rhetoric to stoke discrimination.
The appeal was jointly made by UN special rapporteur on racism Tendayi Achiume, and Michal Balcerzak, chair of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is observed every March 21.
The two experts condemned the latest mosque attacks in New Zealand, which killed 50 people and injured many others.
"This tragic event reminds us that racism, xenophobia and religious hatred are deadly and that the result of ethno-nationalist populism and supremacist ideologies is racial violence, exclusion and discrimination," they said in a joint statement issued Thursday.
States must act immediately to stem the tide of hate and discrimination, to protect vulnerable populations and to ensure racial equality, they stressed.
"Although we want to remain hopeful that all States will take seriously their obligations to eliminate racial discrimination, we are dismayed by the role that public authorities continue to play in stoking racial discrimination and intolerance by acts of commission and omission," they said in the statement.
The two UN experts also reminded the public in their statement that the work of fighting intolerance and discrimination is not for states and public authorities alone.
"Every single person, especially those who enjoy racial privilege on a daily basis, must play their part to put an end to the racism, xenophobia and related intolerance that prevail today," they said.
