Against Racial Hatred, For Human Dignity

Each year, from March 21 to 27, the United Nations observes the Week of Solidarity with Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination, proclaimed by the General Assembly in resolution A/RES/34/24. The week begins with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, rooted in the memory of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, when 69 peaceful protestors in South Africa were killed under apartheid. It also stands within the legal and moral framework of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For the Universal Peace Federation, this observance is not only a time of remembrance. It reminds us that racism is never merely a private prejudice. It becomes exclusion, humiliation, inherited inequality, distorted memory, and at times violence embedded in institutions and public life. As an NGO in General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, UPF affirms the responsibility of civil society to support the work of the United Nations in advancing equal human worth and peaceful coexistence.

This responsibility is closely linked with the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, with Sustainable Development Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities, and with Sustainable Development Goal 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Reducing inequalities and building just, peaceful, and inclusive societies are inseparable tasks. Peace remains fragile while racial contempt survives, while some communities remain unseen in public memory, or while historical wounds are ignored in the name of convenience.

For UPF, this conviction is inseparable from the vision advanced by Dr. Hak Ja Han and the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Their teaching points to humanity as one family under God, where each person, as a child of God, is worthy of equal respect and love regardless of race or origin. In that spirit, peace includes the restoration of relationships, the rejection of inherited contempt, and the practice of service and reconciliation in daily life.

UPF also affirms that the family is a foundation of peacebuilding. The UPF founders encouraged marriages across racial and national lines as one practical way to overcome racism, since families formed across former boundaries can help dissolve inherited prejudice and embody reconciliation, mutual respect, and shared human dignity.

UPF’s own history includes practical efforts that resonate with the spirit of this observance. In Bolivia, UPF convened public dialogue under the theme “Let’s End Racism. Build Peace,” bringing together parliamentarians, faith representatives, educators, journalists, and civil society leaders. In Georgia, UPF programs related to the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination brought students together under the message “Stop Racism, Take Action,” combining educational outreach with activities that fostered encounter and mutual respect among young people from different backgrounds. 

Another important dimension of this work is historical memory. In Senegal, remembrance on Gorée Island and at the House of Slaves was connected with reconciliation, interreligious presence, and youth engagement. This acknowledges that present inequalities do not exist in a vacuum, but are tied to histories of enslavement, degradation, and dehumanization whose consequences endure across generations. In this respect, the moral horizon of anti-racism also touches UNESCO’s Routes of Enslaved Peoples initiative. That connection is especially timely in the context of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent, 2025 to 2034, proclaimed by the General Assembly in December 2024 and launched on January 1, 2025.

UPF has also repeatedly honored the legacy of Nelson Mandela, whose life remains one of the clearest modern examples of resistance to institutionalized racism, joined with a disciplined commitment to reconciliation. His witness matters not simply because he opposed apartheid, but because he showed that justice without revenge and dignity without hatred are both possible.

Such initiatives demonstrate that the struggle against racism requires more than condemnation. It also requires the deliberate creation of habits, institutions, and relationships that make mutual respect more natural and inherited contempt less likely. Racism is weakened when young people learn to encounter one another as persons rather than categories, when painful history is remembered without transmitting bitterness to the next generation, and when civic, religious, educational, media, and cultural leaders address extremism within the rule of law while protecting the equal dignity of all.

The Universal Peace Federation stands in solidarity with peoples and communities who continue to endure racism and racial discrimination, and with all those who labor to build societies shaped by justice, memory, reconciliation, and peace. We invite joint efforts in this work.

Dr. Tageldin Hamad, President, UPF-International March 21, 2026