Table 1.

Summary of potential entry points to address racial- and ethnicity-based discrimination, replicated from UN report.

Action area 1: Interventions explicitly tackling racial and ethnicity-based discrimination

1.1: Tackle xenophobia, racist disinformation, hate speech and media stereotyping.

1.2: Address law enforcement culture and practices.

1.3: Adopt special measures, including affirmative action and targeted financial assistance.

1.4: Support the rights of indigenous peoples.

1.5: Strengthen anti-discrimination measures and grievance redress mechanisms.

1.6: Strengthen autonomous national institutions or create new mechanisms ensuring access to justice and redress.

1.7: Track and address triggers linked to inter-ethnic violence and atrocity crimes, including genocide.

1.8: Invest in strong social inclusion policy.

Action area 2: Interventions addressing compounding and intersecting drivers of social exclusion

2.1: Ensure inclusive and equitable public policy and programming across domains, through the adoption of a human rights-based approach (HRBA).

2.2: Improve infrastructure, services and local inclusive governance (including community engagement mechanisms) in areas with high levels of multidimensional deprivation.

Action area 3: Critical transversal enablers and principles for a human rights-based approach (HRBA)

3.1: Ensure meaningful political and civic participation of communities experiencing discrimination.

3.2: Enable data disaggregation and inequality monitoring efforts, with appropriate protection safeguards.

3.3: Ensure universal right to birth registration and legal identity and invest in vital statistics and civil registration.

3.4: Dedicate sufficient resources through equity-oriented and participatory budgeting, and support to civil society.

3.5: Invest in accurate communications, elevating messages of solidarity, tolerance and inclusion.

Outcome report “Addressing structural racial and ethnicity-based discrimination: Key action areas for COVID-19 recovery plans” by the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) Task Team on Leave No One Behind, the Human Rights and the Normative Agenda, co-led by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), under the auspices of the UNSDG. Table 1 depicts opportunities for COVID-19 response and recovery efforts to help build more equal and resilient societies, through investments in three synergistic action areas. Action area 1 describes interventions explicitly tackling racial and ethnicity-based discrimination. Action area 2 covers interventions addressing compounding and intersecting drivers of social exclusion. Action area 3 addresses cross-cutting enabling measures.