World Conference Against Racism September 2001

Here are twelve of the many issues and stories that were brought by women to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Other forms of Intolerance, held in South Africa during August/September 2001.

1. A Haitian woman told how she witnessed a compatriot, who was heavily pregnant, get shot in her stomach by a soldier who then said, "Finally we have eliminated another Haitian."
2. A Roma woman spoke about a young 13-year old Roma girl who was sold by her parents into marriage. The lass received such abusive treatment from state hospital staff when she needed to give birth a year later, that she preferred to deliver her next four children at home.
3. Dalit women are caste as the lowest of India's low. Most of these women are prejudiced by the education system and they leave school illiterate. Most of them have to work in the informal and agricultural sectors and thay are not, therefore, eligible for social security, medical benefits or maternity leave.
4. Thai women from certain ethnic groups are more likely to become the victims of human rights violations such as trafficking.
5. Black women farm workers in South Africa are still subjected to a high incidence of sexual violence from the white male farmers who employ them.
6. Some black women in South Africa have reported being coerced by their employers into acting as 'guinea-pigs' for the testing of experimental reproduction technology.
7. Women from the Asia-Pacific region pointed out the racist nature of the rape crimes committed by US soldiers stationed in Korea.
8. African women bear the brunt of the World's HIV/AIDS epidemic - their inferior status renders them the group most susceptible to infection.
9. African legal systems also discriminate against the women. Often these women are deprived the full and equal citizenship rights that their menfolk have claimed.
10. Filipino women told how the Canadian government exploits them as a source of cheap labour in that country, and how it deprives them of opportunity to improve their lot and status in Canadian society.

In many situations of armed conflict, the women of the enemy are considered to be the fair spoils of war, and are raped, tortured, abused.

Women from Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines have been forced by Japanese soldiers to be their 'comfort women.'

The Declaration and Programme of Action that arose from the NGO Forum of the WCAR 2001 acknowledges the inter-sectional nature of discrimination. It urges governments to implement ten different actions to make sure that the kinds of stories above, can no longer happen.

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