Credits: Image generated by ChatGPT, with manual editing and refinement by the author
This submission is being published as part of the series at HRH, which is dedicated to Human Rights Day (s) to foster meaningful discussions on human rights issues.
By: Emma Várnagy
It is a great honour to have been asked to contribute a blog post on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Each year, the 21st of March commemorates the day when police shot dead 69 peaceful demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa at an anti-apartheid protest in 1960. Although my research focuses specifically on police violence targeting racialised persons and communities, I would like to take a broader perspective in this entry. I invite you, dear HRH Reader, to reflect with me on how we – as human rights scholars, practitioners, activists, and students – can contribute to the elimination of racial discrimination in 2025.
Such a list of suggestions is not a new topic for blog posts, of course. Yet the reason why this endeavour is worth repeating is simply the times we are living in. 2024 was a turbulent year, and 2025 is not off to a great start either: Trump's second term began with over 50 executive orders, including the revocation of federal diversity, equity, and inclusion guidelines and suspending USAID; the far-right secured significant victories in Germany (following similar results in general elections in Austria and Belgium, as well as wide gains in the European Parliamentary elections in 2024); the 2025 Pact on Migration and Asylum tightens EU border controls and expedites deportation procedures, raising concerns about racial profiling; in China, the government’s assimilation policies targeting Uyghur and Tibetan communities continue, while recent Brazilian anti-terror laws intensify pressure on Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous land activists. This is just a superficial brush over the past weeks’ headlines, and this selection is not intended to marginalise other significant events worldwide. The point I’m making here is that the global political climate continues to be increasingly hostile towards racialised minorities.
It is within this context that I argue it is worth taking stock of what we – human rights scholars and practitioners in (Western) European institutions – can and should do to stay grounded and in touch with the core value of antiracism. Therefore, what I offer here is a collection of actionable suggestions for our academic community drawing from lists already existing:
Deepen Your Understanding of Racial Justice
Critical Race Theory resources can be particularly helpful in seeing race not as an empirical category but as one for analysing power relations. In this context it is crucial to realise that anti-racism requires explicit action, particularly from persons of privilege to acknowledge their role in dismantling racism. Find further resource collections to deepen your understanding of racial justice here, here, here, here, and here, and an extended glossary of concepts and terminology here.
Commit to Inclusive Scholarship
Curate syllabi and bibliographies that highlight contributions and perspectives from the Global South and other marginalised groups. Understand, and accept the discomfort you might face when realising that these are not always easy to find. (Encourage your colleagues and students to) question dominant narratives, such as the Eurocentric bias that often dominates the legal discipline. Ensure that your research methodology and output does not perpetuate racial biases, by eg. extractivism; colonial terminology; data erasure; research dumping; white saviour narratives; failure to disseminate findings in affected communities. Be an “activist professional” who strives to pursue social change through your scholarship and institutional position.
Challenge Racist Narratives and Demand Change
Do not shy away from calling out racism when you see it - whether in policy discussions, research meetings, in class, or everyday interactions. (Invite others to) reflect on these 17 questions about whether you’re perpetuating an ivory tower, or creating an anti-racist university. Inform yourself about what your institution is already doing to be anti-racist and help disseminate that information. If it’s not enough, demand tangible steps toward racial equity (and recognising intersectionality while they’re at it) from hiring, to teaching, to all institutional policies (including the provision of employee and student services), as well as funding research and publishing on racial justice.
Join Ongoing Efforts
Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the idea of having to eliminate racial discrimination on your own, recognise that you can contribute to ongoing efforts both with your time, and other resources.
Recognise Structural Barriers in The Legal Profession
Law and lawyers often struggle with the concept of structural discrimination, because by its very design law prohibits, requires, or allows certain measures or behaviour, but stops short of addressing systemic issues. It can be extremely frustrating as legal scholars to grapple with these inherent flaws and insufficiencies. While through our scholarship we can certainly call for practitioners to take structural accounts, it is also important to sit with the fact that legal prohibition of racial discrimination is not enough.
We have likely encountered many of these strategies before and hopefully already practice at least a few. The central answer of most “how to be antiracist” lists is education. What is crucial to understand here is that education is not solely the responsibility of teachers in schools. Of course, the impact we can make differs and largely depends on our own positions of power. However, this is no reason to discourage taking action. Whether you are a student, researcher, lawyer, NGO employee, judge, professor, journalist, publisher, activist, friend, parent, coworker – you can teach those around you about the steps you take to eliminate racial discrimination. Equally importantly, you can ask those around you about their own efforts and learn from them.
To conclude, while the current socio-political landscape may seem daunting, we must commit to sustained, and conscious practices in our immediate surroundings to eliminate racial discrimination. Let’s continue the conversation and share what other strategies and resources should be added to this list!
Bio:
Emma Várnagy holds an LLM in Public International Law from Utrecht University where her thesis focused on the standard and burden of proof in anti-Roma police violence cases in the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. Currently she is a researcher in the CEU Democracy Institute.