Editing Racism (section)

== International law and racial discrimination ==
In 1919, a [[Racial Equality Proposal, 1919|proposal]] to include a racial equality provision in the [[Covenant of the League of Nations]] was supported by a majority, but not adopted in the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919. In 1943, Japan and its allies declared work for the abolition of racial discrimination to be their aim at the [[Greater East Asia Conference]].<ref>{{cite web |first=C. Peter |last=Chen |url=http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=70%20WW2DB:%20Greater%20East%20Asia%20Conference |title=Joint Declaration of the Greater East Asia Conference (below) |publisher=Ww2db.com |date=23 February 1945 |access-date=26 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406230116/https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=70%20WW2DB:%20Greater%20East%20Asia%20Conference |archive-date=6 April 2022}}</ref> Article 1 of the 1945 [[UN Charter]] includes "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race" as UN purpose.

In 1950, [[UNESCO]] suggested in ''[[The Race Question]]''—a statement signed by 21 scholars such as [[Ashley Montagu]], [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]], [[Gunnar Myrdal]], [[Julian Huxley]], etc.—to "drop the term ''race'' altogether and instead speak of [[ethnic groups]]". The statement condemned [[scientific racism]] theories that had played a role in [[the Holocaust]]. It aimed both at debunking scientific racist theories, by popularizing modern knowledge concerning "the race question", and morally condemned racism as contrary to the philosophy of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and its assumption of [[Social equality|equal rights]] for all. Along with Myrdal's ''[[An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy]]'' (1944), ''The Race Question'' influenced the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court [[racial segregation in the United States|desegregation]] decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''.<ref name="Prins">[http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=30431&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html "Toward a World without Evil: Alfred Métraux as UNESCO Anthropologist (1946–1962)"], by [[Harald E.L. Prins]], UNESCO</ref> Also, in 1950, the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] was adopted, which was widely used on racial discrimination issues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/2F848EFD-6B29-43E5-BB1C-497CD77BB2BF/0/FICHES_Racial_discrimination_EN.pdf |title=European Court of Human Rights case law factsheet on racial discrimination |access-date=26 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614002623/http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/2F848EFD-6B29-43E5-BB1C-497CD77BB2BF/0/FICHES_Racial_discrimination_EN.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2011}}</ref>

The United Nations use the definition of racial discrimination laid out in the ''[[International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination]]'', adopted in 1966:<ref>[http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/cerd.htm Text of the Convention] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726053246/http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/cerd.htm |date=26 July 2011 }}, ''[[International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination]]'', 1966</ref>

<blockquote>...&nbsp;any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin that 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. (Part 1 of Article 1 of the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)</blockquote>

In 2001, the [[European Union]] explicitly banned racism, along with many other forms of social discrimination, in the [[Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union]], the legal effect of which, if any, would necessarily be limited to [[Institutions of the European Union]]: "Article 21 of the charter prohibits discrimination on any ground such as race, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, disability, age or sexual orientation and also discrimination on the grounds of nationality."<ref>{{cite web |date=28 February 1998 |url=http://www.lbr.nl/internationaal/charter%20uk.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030421181614/http://www.lbr.nl/internationaal/charter%20uk.html |archive-date=21 April 2003 |title=Charter of European Political Parties for a non-racist society}}{{void|comment|Fabrickator|there appears to be a relationship between "European Political Parties for a non-racist society" and "European Commission against Racism and Intolerance" but it is unclear just what that relationship is}}</ref>