A/HRC/32/50
the process.85 In its 2014 annual report, the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights noted actions taken in several countries to promote the rights and well-being of
non-nationals, including measures adopted in Uruguay to integrate Syrian refugees
into society, providing them with access to housing, medical care, Spanish lessons, and
cultural lessons that were also provided to school teachers, students and parents in
order to also foster acceptance among the local population.
E.
Complementarity and coordinated sectorial strategies
76.
It is necessary to address institutional, political, policy and social reforms
simultaneously, in ways that mutually reinforce the incentives for integration and
solidarity rather than for exclusion. This should include strengthening the rule of law
by adopting and implementing at the national level the relevant international
standards, particularly those recognizing and protecting rights of minorities,
including non-nationals.86 Perhaps more importantly, it is essential to provide effective
judicial, administrative and other remedies to vulnerable groups, including to foreign
nationals.87 However, the establishment of these systems is only likely where there are
political and social incentives for solidarity fostered through the creation of spaces
and opportunities for the development of overlapping or concurrent interests. This
process should be founded on human rights education, through innovative tools such
as youth dialogues on migration, social inclusion and diversity. 88 Educational
curricula should systematically include multicultural and diversity training. Human
rights training for justice officials, law enforcement personnel, social partners and
educators should put particular emphasis on non-discrimination and on equal rights
for all. Targeted public media campaigns and training courses should be designed
with the participation of all stakeholders concerned, with a view to sensitizing the
population at large to the principles of equality and non-discrimination, and also to
combating racism and prejudice in daily life. As part of such media campaigns, the
accent should be put on publicizing the positive contributions of vulnerable groups to
economic and social welfare as well as the overall negative effects of discrimination
and marginalization.
F.
Review and assessment
77.
While generalized frameworks and principled statements calling for tolerance
and inclusion are an important and necessary step, there are few concrete sources that
correlate intervention strategies, local conditions and rates of success. Only through
concrete independent monitoring and critical evaluation — by all actors — can we
develop the insights necessary to improve future interventions’ chances of being
successful. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur reiterates the recommendation to
establish independent national anti-discrimination monitoring bodies with the power
to monitor the effectiveness of policies and enforce anti-discrimination legislation, to
receive and act upon individual complaints of discrimination and to accompany
85
86
87
88
22
Jennifer Ridgley, “Cities of refuge: immigration enforcement, police, and the insurgent genealogies of
citizenship in U.S. sanctuary cities”, Urban Geography, vol. 29, No. 1 (2008), pp. 53-77.
ILO, IOM, OHCHR, International Migration, Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia (2001).
Ibid.
IOM, Plural+ Youth Video Festival (2015); and European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights,
“Promoting respect and diversity, combating intolerance and hate: contribution to the Annual
Colloquium on Fundamental Rights” (2015).