International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2023 - Cities as crucial partners to address racism on a structural level
The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March calls attention to the fight against racism worldwide. It reminds us that racism is a global phenomenon that must be combated with joint forces. As a coalition of cities it is ECCAR's main goal to support local authorities in the fight against racism on the ground - to strengthen their local work to create cities for us all.
It is this commitment that guides the actions of our member cities and ECCAR as a whole on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination all across Europe. With more than 80 different events in more than 7 different countries ECCAR cities send a strong common signal for the key role of cities for an inclusive and diverse Europe.
UNESCO Masterclass Series #IAmAntiRacist
Today our member city Monptellier (France) joins the global edition of the UNESCO Master Class Series against Racism and Discriminations at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. With their live broadcast “Fighting racism through youth champions and municipality staff” the city of Montpellier brings in the perspective of local authorities at the Anti-racism week at the European Union. The global UNESCO Masterclass series is an outstanding platform to involve young people in the debate on antiracism to create exchange between young civil society and experts. As members of UNESCO’s International Coalition for Inclusive and Sustainable Cities (ICCAR) ECCAR member cities use this platform to draw attention to youth as agents of change in the fight against racism and discrimination. Embedded in the Roadmap against racism and discrimination and UNESCO’s Global call against racism they urge the international community to step up its efforts to combat the structural root causes of racism.
Cities as crucial partners to address racism on a structural level
“Every day, people affected by racism can feel the impact of structural racism on their access to jobs, healthcare, housing, financial services or education, as well as cases of violence.” emphasizes EU Anti-racism Coordinator Michaela Moua in the interview “Let’s talk about Racism” today. City administrations are key to the provision of public services, including in education, culture, health, employment, housing, water and sanitation and, more generally, urban facilities. Therefore, local authorities play a crucial role in dismantling and combating racism in its structural form. Especially on 21 March with all the events happening it is of utmost importance to keep the structural level of racism in mind.
For this reason ECCAR supports its members in anchoring anti-racism work through long-term and sustainable strategies via the 10 Point Plan of Action. To further promote the development of local anti-racism action plans, ECCAR under the leadership of the City of Graz together with the City of Heidelberg and the European Training Center for Human Rights started the new EU project ACTION, which will support around 15 cities to develop and rework their own local anti-racism action plans in the next two years.
