Efforts to combat racism in the Asia Pacific region

Presented by Alexia Kapsampeli

This report was drafted by Broken Chalk to contribute to the call for inputs to analyze the status of the rights situation of Africans and people of African descent in the Asia Pacific region. Broken Chalk is an organisation that fights against violations of Human Rights and improving the quality of education around the globe.

Article 4 of the Constitution of China states, “All ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China are equal. The State protects the legitimate rights and interests of all ethnic minorities and maintains and develops relationships of equality, unity, and mutual assistance among all ethnic groups. Discrimination and oppression of any ethnic group is prohibited. Behaviours that undermine national unity and create national divisions are prohibited”.1

China applied to the United Nations for the International Convention on All Forms of Racial Discrimination (with reservation to Article 23) on November 29, 1981. It was adopted on January 28, 1982. It is one of the earliest United Nations human rights conventions ratified by China.

Chinese officials denied the existence of racial discrimination in the country.2

However, according to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, China lacks an anti-racial discrimination law and a national human rights institution in line with the Paris Principles. 3

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Photo by Duncan Shaffer on Unsplash


References

1 在中国种族歧视会犯法吗?(Is racial discrimination illegal in China?) https://www.sohu.com/a/139339006_244250#google_vignette May 9, 2017, Last accessed on December 6, 2023 

2 国际公约和文书中有关消除种族歧视背景知识 50 问答 (Background knowledge on the elimination of racial discrimination in international conventions and instruments 50 Q&A) https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/%E5%9B%BD%E9%99%85%E5%85%AC%E7%BA%A6%E5%92%8C%E6%96%87%E4%B9%A6%E4%B8%AD%E6%9C%89%E5%85%B3%E6%B6%88%E9%99%A4%E7%A7%8D%E6%97%8F%E6%AD%A7%E8%A7%86%E8%83%8C%E6%99%AF%E7%9F%A5%E8%AF%8650%E9%97%AE%E7%AD%94.pdf Last accessed December 7, 2023

3 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reviews the report of China, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/08/committee-elimination-racial-discrimination-reviews-report-china, August 13, 2018, Last accessed on December 11, 2023