Hate Crimes & International Law Can Prejudice Be “Unlearned?”

Universal Declaration of Human Rights After WWII, the international community agreed that such events as the Holocaust must never happen again In 1948, the newly formed United Nations declared its Universal Declaration of Human Rights Much of it was written by little-known Canadian lawyer John Humphrey

Human Rights The declaration was the first international statement outlining the rights and freedoms of people globally It states that every person has the right to life, freedom, and security. No one must be treated in a cruel, degrading, or inhumane way In 1998, 98 countries set up the United Nations International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute individuals guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide

War Crimes War Crimes – murder, torture, and hostage- taking of civilian nationals, and/or wide-scale destruction of their property Crimes Against Humanity – murder, torture, enslavement, and deportation of innocent civilian nationals Genocide – deliberate mass murder of any national, ethnic, racial or religious group

“Unlearning” Prejudice People are not born with prejudice – they learn it Canada and the US are mainly nations of immigrants Through most of the 20 th C, about 1/5 of Canada’s people were born somewhere else, and that ratio continues today

Multiculturalism In the 1970s, the government of Canada developed a policy of multiculturalism, which encouraged people to preserve their ancestral cultures while living under Canadians laws and institutions Many schools responded by promoting multicultural projects and events designed to promote pride and understanding in the diverse heritages of Canadians

Multiculturalism In the 1980s some educators in Britain, the US, and Canada began to use the term “anti-racist education” which carries multiculturalism a step farther Anti-racism aims not only to reduce prejudice, but also eliminate institutional barriers to equality between different peoples – E.g. looking closely at books and materials that students are using in the classroom, some of which could contribute to racism and ethnic prejudice

Paradigm Shift Anti-racism aims to create paradigm shifts both in the majority culture, and in “subordinate cultures”