Concerns, Challenges and Tensions

While the international anti-racism norms call for respect for diversity and differ-ences, they also put forward challenges linked to differences. The pertinent OSCE commitments note that the racial, ethnic, cultural and linguistic or religious

iden-843. The Political Declaration of the European Conference against Racism does contain a brief note on the existence of multiple discrimination. While the General Conclusions of the Conference are more elaborate on this issue, they also contain remarks pointing to institu-tionalised racism in state institutions. These remarks did not find their way into the Political Declaration of the Conference. The attention recently drawn to the issue of institutional or systemic nature of racism by the European Court of Human Rights is worthy of note.

See the remarks on this supra in the beginning of chapter 2.2.1.3 (n. 722). The OSCE has prominently addressed the issue of multiple discrimination with respect to Romani women.

844. These issues have been raised e.g. with respect to indigenous women and girls, migrant women and children (who are often victims of spousal or domestic violence), and refugee and internally displaced women and girls. Racially motivated violence against women is also noted in general terms.

845. See particularly the Durban Document.

846. See particularly the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. Also the Child Convention, with its additional protocols, focuses on the victims.

tity of persons or groups may subject these individuals or groups to threats or acts of discrimination, hostility or violence. This aspect of the issue is echoed in the CoE Framework Convention, article 6.2 of which refers to protecting persons who may be subject to threats or acts of discrimination, hostility or violence as a result of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious identity. The Durban Document points out that members of certain groups with a distinct cultural identity face barriers associated with ethnic and religious factors as well as traditions and customs. The Durban Document also expressly recognises the challenges that people of different socially constructed races, colours, descent, national or ethnic origins, religions and languages experience in seeking to live together and to develop harmonious multi-racial and multicultural societies. It is also worthy of note that in connection with addressing the situation of the Roma, CERD has asserted that their cultural dif-ferences may contribute to their marginalisation.⁸⁴⁷ Statements of this sort suggest that differences, and particularly differences and identities connected with ethnic, cultural and linguistic or religious characteristics, are prone to fuel tensions, chal-lenges and problems.

In recognition of the way various identities or group characteristics create bar-riers between groups and individuals belonging to these groups, the international anti-racism norms include express provisions on the need to combat and eradicate these barriers.⁸⁴⁸ Solutions offered by the international norms to this challenge, to tackling these barriers and advancing tolerance include enhancing contacts among groups and individuals belonging to different groups and encouraging dialogue.

Concern for differences is also reflected in states’ concern for social cohesion, which comes to the fore in the anti-racism norms. It may be observed that the con-cern for social cohesion has been highlighted particularly in the CoE documents.

When the CoE Framework Convention discusses social cohesion in the context of article 6, the question is linked to tolerance, the elimination of barriers between per-sons belonging to ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious groups, intercultural dia-logue, and the integration of these persons into society.⁸⁴⁹ The documents adopted at the CoE summits refer to the need to develop strategies to manage and promote cultural diversity while ensuring the cohesion of societies.⁸⁵⁰ In general, the CoE has stressed the value of (social) cohesion in combating all forms of exclusion and

847. CERD has put forth this idea in its General Recommendation No. 27 on discrimination against Roma. See para. 34.

848. See e.g. the ICERD, the OSCE commitments, and art. 6 of the CoE Framework Conven-tion.

849. These remarks have been made in the Explanatory Report.

850. The first CoE summit pointed out that the deterioration of the economic situation is a threat to the social cohesion of European societies by generating forms of exclusion likely to foster social tensions and manifestations of xenophobia. The third CoE summit stressed the importance of understanding and tolerance and expressed increasing concern for the management and promotion of cultural diversity while ensuring the cohesion of societies.

ensuring better protection of the weakest members of society.⁸⁵¹ UNESCO docu-ments also contain some provisions on the issue of social cohesion and articulate links between, among other things, culture, identity, social cohesion, tolerance, dia-logue, co-operation, international peace and security, and cultural diversity. Policies for the inclusion and participation of all citizens are noted as guarantees of social cohesion.⁸⁵²

While international norms incorporate states’ concern for differences, there are also remarks on record showing an apprehension regarding the homogenisation pressure on cultures. This has been expressed most vocally within UNESCO, and the pressure has been linked to the challenges which globalisation poses to cultural diversity. Although the cultures of persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples are also mentioned in these contexts, the protection of the cultures of these groups is clearly not the main concern; rather, the instruments articulate a general concern about the pressure to homogenise that globalisation imposes on cultures.⁸⁵³

Characteristic of the anti-racism discourse is that it is pregnant with tensions, including – especially from states’ point of view – a tension between diversity (and pluralism) and the cohesion of society, and between promoting diversity (pluralism) and building an inclusive (or integrated) society. Another tension arises from the demands for equality and non-discrimination built into the anti-racism discourse and the demands for respect for diversity and differences and for the promotion of pluralism or diversity. Furthermore, the message put forth in the UN era has been that there are no distinct human races, but all human beings belong to the same

“human race” or “a single species”;⁸⁵⁴ i.e. there has been a shift from emphasising physical differences among individuals to stressing the similarities between all hu-man beings. Against this background of stressing blindness to differences, the calls to respect cultural and other differences pose a challenge in that they have prompted new forms of racism, including theories of supposedly insurmountable cultural dif-ferences between groups.⁸⁵⁵ A further challenge of the anti-racism discourse, which has elevated the importance of tolerance and respect,⁸⁵⁶ concerns the limits of those values; i.e. what should and what should not be accepted in the name of tolerance and respect. Although the international anti-racism norms do not incorporate the

851. See e.g. the Declaration of the second CoE summit.

852. See the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions makes a note on the importance of culture for social cohesion.

853. Also the Durban Document incorporates some stipulations on the effects of globalisation, including remarks on its negative outcomes.

854. See the Durban Document and UNESCO documents.

855. The General Conclusions of the European Conference against Racism refer to the existence of these theories, and the Durban Document notes the existence of contemporary forms and manifestations of theories of superiority of certain races and cultures over others.

856. See the remarks on values (and principles) supra.

compatibility clauses seen in the international norms on minorities and indigenous peoples,⁸⁵⁷ the requirement to comply with human rights does come to the fore.⁸⁵⁸ However, although extreme manifestations of intolerance, such as genocide, apart-heid and ethnic cleansing have been specifically addressed as well as criminalised in international norms,⁸⁵⁹ the general references to human rights are often not enough to solve the challenges relating to the limits of tolerance and respect.

Additionally, certain remarks relating to religion put forth in the Durban Docu-ment in particular deserve some attention. This is when the DocuDocu-ment discusses a central role of religion, spirituality and belief in the lives of individuals, the role of religion, spirituality and belief in contributing to the eradication of racial dis-crimination, racism and other forms of intolerance, and the cultural and religious identity of women belonging to certain faiths and religious minorities. The Docu-ment also contains remarks on certain communal aspects of religion when it consid-ers religious communities and their religious beliefs. Also UNESCO has made an interesting observation in expressly mentioning the importance of culture and its potential for the enhancement of the status and role of women in society. It has also highlighted the need to pay due attention to the special circumstances and needs of women in the context of cultural expressions.⁸⁶⁰

The challenges and tensions in the area of the anti-racism discourse, including aspects pertaining to religions and culture, are discussed further in the concluding chapter of this research.

857. See the remarks supra in chapter 2.1.4.2. The OSCE commitments in the area of anti-rac-ism set out in the 1991 Moscow Document contain a reference to compliance with national law and international obligations of states in the context of migrant workers.

858. Tolerance has been linked most clearly to the recognition of (universal) human rights and fundamental freedoms in UNESCO documents. The Political Declaration of the European Conference against Racism refers to respect for human rights, and the intercultural and inter-faith dialogue proposed at the third CoE summit is to be based on universal human rights. The UN Declaration on Religion and Belief demands consistency with the UDHR and the UN Covenants.

859. See the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Apart-heid is tackled e.g. in the ICERD and in some conventions specifically addressing it. Ethnic cleansing emerged among international law concepts particularly during the Yugoslav war in the course of the 1990s, and consequently it also appears in more recent documents. See e.g. the Vienna Document of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights and the docu-ments of the European Conference against Racism. The latter also refer to religious cleans-ing. See also the remarks supra in chapter 2.2.1.

860. See the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expres-sions.