News
Experts discussed racism and discriminations during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Arab region
The consultation was opened by Ms Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for who underscored the importance of this series of consultations in exchanging knowledge on racism and discriminations and taking action to counter them. She emphasized that although racism is not a new phenomenon “with the COVID-19 crisis, it has become more visible and more shocking”. She then highlighted that in the Arab region structural racism and discriminations manifest in a variety of forms as they affect a wide array of groups: from black communities, both Arab and Sub-Saharan, to religious minorities; from refugees from other Arab countries to women migrant workers. Furthermore, she welcomed all the efforts made by Arab countries in countering racial and other forms of discriminations, especially against women and migrants.
Particular attention was devoted to Tunisia, which is the only Arab country to have adopted a law on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (October 2018 - organic law 2018-50). Nevertheless, racism and discriminations against the Black community as well as the denial of African identity remain anchored in the society, as pointed out during the discussion.
According to Ms Saadia Mosbah, president of the Association M’nemty against Discriminations, there is a lack of political will to deal with the African component of Tunisian history and the experience of the Tunisian Black community throughout the centuries. In addition, despite the adoption of law 2018-50, the situation of the Black foreign community has deteriorated in recent years, with the arrival of sub-Saharan migrants starting in 2011. There is, thus, a need to advance the implementation of existing laws and provisions against racism and discrimination through the creation of monitoring mechanisms.
Ms Khawla Ksiksi, co-founder of the collective “Voices of Black Tunisian Women”, emphasized the intersectional dimension in racism and discriminations and its impact on specific groups like Black Tunisian women, who, in her words, are “the weakest link”. The collective aims to create a safe space for black women to talk about their problems and to solve them; to build knowledge on discrimination against Black women through different tools such as debates, articles and videos; to empower Black women, and to make them visible. Regarding the implementation of law 50-2018, Ms Ksiksi pointed out the lack of preventive measures including awareness-raising and educational programmes, as well as the need to develop policies to promote representation of minority groups in all spheres, including the media.
Mr Omar Fassatoui, Human Rights Officer at the OHCHR in Tunis, drew attention to the twofold impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Tunisian minority groups. Indeed, on the one hand, the spread of the virus led to an increase in xenophobia and racism to minority groups and especially against foreigners. On the other hand, like in many other countries, the containment measures adopted to halt the spread of the virus had a profound impact on the most vulnerable groups including minorities. He also raised the issue of the general lack of data disaggregation by “race” and ethnicity, which prevents a deep understanding of the phenomenon and the development of tailored public policies in favour of minority groups. In order to fill in the data disaggregation gap, he suggested the inclusion of self-identification in surveys and the provision of an adequate budget to the national commission against racial discrimination provided for by law 50-2018.
Mr Charles Harb, Professor of Social and Political Psychology at the American University of Beirut, pointed out that although basic disaggregated statistics such as demographic ones are difficult to find in the region, academics have been collecting them for the years. However, there is a need to support researchers in their work further. In addition to this, he stressed the importance of addressing the issue of racism and discriminations without considering the Arab region as one single entity but rather by taking into account the specificities and the distinct dynamics surrounding these issues in each country of the Middle East and North Africa region. This approach would help in addressing racism in a culturally appropriate way, depending on the setting and in developing tailored strategies for each context.
Ms Nadia Meflah, author, film critic, professor and producer at the Sahara Lab Institute, focused on the role that cinema could play in contrasting racism in Arab countries. As a popular art with the capacity to be accessible to everyone, cinema could help to promote the narratives of Black and other minority communities and could be used as an effective tool in civic education. In addition to that, the promotion of South-South cooperation in the cinematographic sector, especially in the African continent may help North African countries address the denial of their African identity.
Organized by UNESCO, this Series aims to unpack the societal challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic related to racism and discriminations and seeks to facilitate the necessary deep reflection on what direction the international community should take amid the renewed emergence of racist agendas.
In the framework of this Series, UNESCO held five expert consultations on Africa, North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
Links to the previous editions:
