Photo by Marigela Orvañanos
On November 16, the United Nations (UN) will once again commemorate the International Day for Tolerance which was created by the General Assembly in 1996.
Examples of the need to teach and practice tolerance and respect are not hard to find in today’s world as discrimination and phobias of many sorts still abound. The ultimate form of intolerance is of course genocide. Working for reconciliation and a better world requires us to take a stand against intolerance, to begin teaching tolerance to the very young, to practice it wherever we can, and to take concrete action to prevent the development of the causes of intolerance.
The following UN resources might provide useful information for educators:
- UNESCO's cultural diversity page.
- UN Chronicle of January 2007 entitled The Solidarity of Peoples, dealing with racism and racial discrimination.
- Reports of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance .
- Decisions from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) which monitors implementation of treaty obligations by countries that have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
- Web site of Embrace Diversity – End Discrimination, which is a special focus of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- The NGO Office’s article on this web site about the year 2010 being the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures as well as other resources mentioned there.
NGO Office
Ocotober 2010
