Community Engagement Report for developing a National Action Plan Against Racism International human rights obligations The Government has a duty to eliminate racism, through its international human rights obligations, Te Tiriti and He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Niu Tirene (He Whakaputanga), and through domestic legislation. What are human rights? Human rights are basic rights and freedoms to which every person in the world is entitled. These basic rights are based on shared values such as dignity, fairness, equality and respect. They govern how individuals live in society and with each other as well as the State’s relationship to their people and the State’s obligations for those people. Human rights are inherent, inalienable, and universal. They are inherent in that they belong to all peoples based on common humanity. They are inalienable in that people cannot give up their rights and governments must not deprive the people of their rights. They are universal in that they apply regardless of distinctions on key grounds, such as race, ethnicity or culture. The international human rights framework Giving effect to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the two key international human rights treaties are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICECSR). New Zealand ratified both ICCPR and ICESCR in 1978. Both these and subsequent human rights treaties – including the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (1990), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with New Zealand Human Rights Commission Disabilities (2008) – explicitly affirm the right to freedom from racial discrimination and the rights of all people to practise their own culture, religion and language. International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Because of the pervasive and destructive impact of racism and racial discrimination, a specific Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was adopted by the United Nations in 1965. ICERD defines racial discrimination as: 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.xxix ICERD requires governments to eliminate racially discriminatory policies, prohibit racial discrimination and encourage intercultural communication. It commits governments to declare unlawful the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination and acts of racial violence, and to prohibit organisations that incite racial hatred. It declares all people, without distinction as to race, colour, national or ethnic origin, to be equal before the law and in the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, and it provides for special measures to be instituted to achieve equality. Governments are required to provide protection and remedies against racial discrimination and to adopt measures to combat prejudice and promote understanding and tolerance. 93