A/HRC/50/60 45. Armenia reported its efforts to guarantee quality education without discrimination pursuant to Sustainable Development Goal 4, in particular building educational facilities to benefit members of its national minorities and increasing their access to education. Armenia highlighted educational projects in collaboration with NGOs or international agencies. It reported that its general education curriculum also includes provisions for human rights education and courses in the languages spoken by national minorities.85 46. Mexico reported that it uses regional planning exercises to encourage the participation of local communities and indigenous peoples in addressing social challenges. Since 2019, more than 21 regional planning exercises have been developed. These regional consultations involve almost all of the relevant commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals. The Government reported that its comprehensive development plan for the Xhidza and Xhon Zapotec communities of the Sierra Juárez and its justice plan for the Yaqui people have utilized such participatory processes.86 47. According to one submission, Costa Rica has made extensive efforts to include racially marginalized groups in the planning of implementation policies for the Sustainable Development Goals and is currently developing a national indigenous policy and a national policy on people of African descent through participatory processes.87 48. The World Bank Group detailed its plan to counter racial discrimination at institutional, systemic and structural levels, highlighting its use of environmental and social frameworks for partnering with State borrowers, which reportedly include meaningful consultations with affected groups. The World Bank Group also highlighted the addition of the word “race” to its directive on addressing risks and impacts on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and individuals, the publication of a technical note on addressing racial discrimination through environmental and social frameworks, as well as development programmes initiated in consultation with racially marginalized peoples and indigenous peoples. The World Bank Group has recently promulgated its first Anti-Racism Charter, laying out its commitments to advancing institutional racial equality, and in 2022 it appointed a Senior Race Equity Officer at the urging of the World Bank Anti-Racism Task Force. These institutional reforms are important first steps and the Special Rapporteur commends the work of the individuals who have brought these policy changes to fruition. The measure of these reforms, however, will be in their implementation. The Special Rapporteur observes with concern that there is no indication that the World Bank has developed a comprehensive racial equality strategy akin to its Gender Equality Strategy. The Special Rapporteur also reiterates that the requisite transformative change for racial justice and equality will require a fundamental overhaul of the economic and financial theories that undergird the work of the World Bank and the international development framework. 88 Without such change, the World Bank will remain a leading driver of racially discriminatory underdevelopment. 49. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank UNDP staff for their engagement with her mandate. UNDP reported that the racial justice uprising in 2020 was a catalyst for greater attention to systemic racism and its effects within UNDP, including its operations. It is working towards operating as an anti-racist organization and taking a whole-of-organization approach to focus on discrimination, equality and inclusion. Its internal initiatives have included a survey to assess the starting points for combatting racism and racial discrimination; an internal Anti-Racism and Decoloniality Network; and a diversity and inclusion strategy. With respect to its operations and programming, UNDP does not have a racial equality strategy; the Special Rapporteur strongly urges its creation. The UNDP Strategic Plan 2022–2025, 89 which anchors its programmatic planning and results framework, includes the following output: “Civic space and access to justice expanded, racism and discrimination addressed, and rule of law, human rights and equity strengthened”. While these actions open the possibility for greater operational attention to racial inequality and injustice, they are insufficient to the task at hand. UNDP must complement its strong 85 86 87 88 89 12 Submission by Armenia. Submission by Mexico. Submission by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Response to the Special Rapporteur’s questionnaire by the World Bank Group. See UNDP, Strategic Plan 2022–2025 (2021).