World conference against racism.

• Position: UNREPORTED News on the United Nations System at Work

The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance will be held in Durban, South Africa, from 31 August to 7 September 2001. In this regard, UNreported focuses on a number of matters to be discussed at the World Conference: racial discrimination involving women, minorities and other vulnerable groups, particularly indigenous peoples. Many of the facts are taken from reports by independent experts, called special rapporteurs, who are appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights-the main policy-making body concerned with human rights issues.

Gender and Racial Discrimination

The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, Maurice Glegle-Ahanhanzo, studied the situation of minority women in the labour market in Brazil in 1995. He concluded that "black women receive the lowest salaries (four times lower than those of a white man), are employed in unhealthy locations, work a triple day and face threefold discrimination".

The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Radhika Coomaraswarmy, states that the exploitation of migrants by traffickers "places women in situations in which they are unprotected by law. Overt forms of violence, including but not limited to rape, torture, arbitrary execution, deprivation of liberty, forced labour and forced marriage, are perpetrated against women who seek to exercise their freedom of movement."

Migration and Discrimination

Migration has become a sign of the times. In 1997, the International Labour Organization estimated that the number of migrant workers was as follows: Africa, 20 million; North America, 17 million; Latin America and the Caribbean, 12 million; the Arab States, 9 million; and Europe, 30 million. Recent estimates by the International Monetary Fund calculate that in 1997, migrant workers' earnings sent back to home countries accounted for $77 billion, second only to world petroleum exports in terms of international trade monetary flows. Migrants are a particularly vulnerable group and they see their rights routinely violated. This is especially true of illegal migrants, according to the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Gabriela Rodriguez Pizarro, who recently reported that between 300,000 and 600,000 are smuggled into the European Union and certain central...