Racism and discrimination are still around the world

The peril of the spread of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance is still around in the modern world, academician of the Political Sciences Academy, Professor Konstantin Dolgov said in an interview to RIA Novosti. Dolgov is taking part in the Asian Preparatory Conference for the World Forum Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance. Dolgov disclosed that on February 17 to 18, the Asian Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Intolerance was held in Tehran on the level of non-government organisations. "All the speakers were unanimous about the necessity of a modern strategy being worked out for the protection of human rights, and recommended that the world's governments take measures in order to bring their national laws in line with international human rights-related treaty obligations," the Russian academic pointed out. He lamented the fact that racial discrimination is in most cases aggravated by religious intolerance and xenophobia. "Ethnic identity is often based on racial or religious affiliation and used as a basis for consensus, which may aggravate racial discrimination against minorities. This is where such phenomena as, for instance, Islamophobia and Christianophobia, occur, as is the case in specific countries," Konstantin Dolgov noted. "The agenda of the government-level forum opened in Tehran, and continuing until February 21 features issues of female discrimination, migration and population moving, problems of ethnic minorities, castes, indigenous peoples, globalisation, etc.," RIA Novosti cites Konstantin Dolgov as saying. The Tehran government-level conference is to work out major documents concerning these problems and to submit them for adoption to the World Forum on these problems, to be held in South Africa next fall.