CAIRO – 21 March 2022: The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is celebrated annually on the day that police in Sharpeville, South Africa, shot and killed 69 people participating in a peaceful demonstration against apartheid "pass laws" in 1960. In 1979, the General Assembly adopted a program of activities to be carried out during the second half of the Decade of Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. An international framework to combat racism was created, guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It prohibited racial discrimination to include all core international human rights instruments. The principle of equality requires states to take special measures to eliminate conditions that cause or help perpetuate racial discrimination.
