ABSTRACT
The focus of the Florence lectures has been on Europe, including the new legal obligations to be undertaken by EU member states on the elimination of racial and ethnic discrimination. A review of international human rights approaches to the elimination of racism and racial discrimination must begin with the acknowledgement that the world community is a long way from achieving one component of the basic message of human rights-that of the equal dignity of all human beings. This chapter considers the origins of the international human rights approaches towards racism and racial discrimination. It reviews international human rights approaches to the problem over the last fifty years. The most important achievement of the international human rights approach to the elimination of racial discrimination has been to establish in international law a prohibition on racism as a state ideology and on the practice of all forms of racial or ethnic discrimination.
