A/HRC/41/54
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
14 May 2019
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-first session
24 June–12 July 2019
Agenda item 9
Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
forms of intolerance, follow-up to and implementation
of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Global extractivism and racial equality*
Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Summary
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Tendayi Achiume, addresses the
issue of racial equality and extractivism, explaining the pitfalls of an ahistorical, “colourblind” approach to the issue. She explains why the racial equality and non-discrimination
obligations enshrined in the international human rights framework must be central to
reform, regulation and evaluation of the extractivism economy. She develops (a) a
structural racial equality analysis at a global level that highlights the racially subordinating
effects of unequal distribution of power among States and between such States and
transnational corporations; and (b) a more localized racial equality analysis at the national
level that underlines the racially discriminatory human rights violations experienced by
communities living directly on or close to territories of extraction. Finally, she formulates
recommendations addressed to all stakeholders to ensure human rights protection in the
extractivism economy, especially in tackling global structural racial inequality, which is
rooted in persisting sovereign inequality.
* The present report was submitted late to reflect the most recent information received in response to a
call for submissions by the Special Rapporteur.
GE.19-07856(E)