The United Nations has called for stronger solidarity and political will to eliminate racial discrimination globally, as leaders marked a key international day against racism.

The president of the UN General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, made the call on Monday at an event at UN Headquarters in New York.

She spoke to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, observed annually on March 21 since its declaration by the UN in 1966.

Ms Baerbock recalled the Sharpeville massacre, where police killed 69 peaceful protesters demonstrating against apartheid laws, describing it as a defining moment in the fight against racial injustice.

“The crowd gathered outside Sharpeville police station on March 21, 1960, came armed not with weapons, but with conviction, not to divide society, but to claim their dignity within it. But the annual commemoration is about much more than one notorious incident,” she said, noting that racism persists in every corner of the world today. “Sometimes it is explicit and vulgar… Sometimes it is quiet and discreet, masked in bureaucracy and hidden within the ordinary.

“But whether loud or silent, it is sinister, it is damaging, and its consequences extend far beyond individuals,” Ms Baerbock told the assembly.

Also speaking, UN secretary-general António Guterres warned that racism continued to harm societies and deepen global inequalities.

“It persists in the damaging consequences of enslavement, colonialism, and oppression,” he said, adding that racism fueled economic, social and political inequalities and conflicts.

Mr Guterres expressed concern that some governments were weakening anti-racist policies and that hate speech was increasingly spreading across digital platforms and political discourse.

“What might begin with dog whistles… can quickly turn into full-throated hate speech. We know where this road leads: to further injustice, violence, and even worse,” he said.

Mr Guterres called for collective action, urging governments, institutions, businesses and communities to work together to protect dignity, justice, equality and human rights for all.

UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk said history showed that movements for equality could not be stopped, citing global figures and grassroots resistance.

He stressed the need for strong political will, including enforcing laws against discrimination and ensuring accountability for all forms of racial hatred.

“Being anti-racist does not mean standing with one group against another. It means standing on the side of human rights and justice, for all,” he said.

U.S. law professor Justin Hansford also reflected on modern struggles for racial justice, linking them to past sacrifices such as those at Sharpeville.

“Their courage demonstrated that the world will always be watching until racial justice is no longer a promise deferred but a condition achieved,” he said.

(NAN)