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Your Excellency, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa,
Your Excellency Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

Twenty-five years ago, the international community came together in Durban with a shared conviction:

That racism is an assault on human dignity,

That racial discrimination entrenches injustice and inequality,

And that xenophobia and related intolerance threaten peace – within and among nations.

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action was born in South Africa – a heroic nation whose people proved that institutionalized racism can be overcome.

Durban drew strength from that struggle. It also confronted the enduring legacies of slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade; colonialism; apartheid; and genocide.

Durban therefore went beyond condemning prejudice. It confronted racism as a structural force.

It called for stronger laws and institutions, national action plans, education, disaggregated data, equal participation, justice, remedies, and international cooperation.

It placed affected communities at the centre, and remains today the most comprehensive global framework to combat systemic racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

The twenty-fifth anniversary, which we mark today, calls for renewed vigilance to uphold its historic tenets.

Excellencies,

The fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance is not a matter of choice.

It is a core obligation rooted in the UN Charter, international human rights law, and the commitments made in Durban.

It is a responsibility we owe to every person, everywhere.

And we must deliver on it.

Yet we are falling short. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reports that 78 of the Convention’s 182 States parties are significantly behind in their reporting, some by decades.

This is more than a reporting gap. It is an accountability gap.

We cannot remedy inequalities we refuse to examine.

We cannot dismantle discrimination we fail to measure.

And we cannot fulfil commitments without resources, monitoring and political will.

Excellencies,

The political declaration before us calls for national action plans, comprehensive laws, independent human rights institutions, effective remedies, education and meaningful participation by affected communities.

We must translate those commitments into action.

That means investigating racist acts, impartially, promptly and thoroughly.

It means ending impunity, prohibiting racial profiling, and ensuring justice and adequate reparation for victims.

It means collecting disaggregated data, consistent with human rights and national law, to expose discrimination hidden by averages.

And it means confronting historical injustice through acknowledgment, remembrance and meaningful reparatory justice that restores dignity and addresses continuing inequalities.

Excellencies,

Racism does not stand still. It adapts to changing social, political and technological realities.

It can be embedded in institutions, concealed in supposedly neutral procedures, reproduced through biased datasets and amplified by digital platforms that reward outrage and division.

Artificial intelligence can expand opportunity, but poorly and unguarded systems can reproduce structural inequalities and spread lies and hatred at unprecedented speed and scale.

We need safeguards throughout the technological life cycle: representative data, transparency, human oversight, accountability and remedies. Innovation must advance equality, not automate discrimination.

We must also respond firmly to hate speech, disinformation, Islamophobia, Christianophobia, antisemitism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, xenophobia, discrimination against Indigenous Peoples and Roma, and towards minorities, migrants, refugees, women and girls.

No community should have to live in fear because of its race, ethnicity, national origin, religion or belief.

No digital platform should be allowed to profit from hatred without accountability.

To succeed, we must strengthen national action, deepen regional cooperation and reinforce global solidarity, taking stock of where gains have been made and where new approaches are needed.

And we must place young people – our standard-bearers – at the heart of our efforts.

I am honoured to have youth representatives with us today.

Across the world, young people are using their voices – and importantly, their digital skills – to push back against prejudice, challenge harmful narratives, promote inclusion, and build more just and inclusive societies. They are exposing discrimination and using digital skills to build inclusive societies.

We must listen, invest in their leadership and protect them, and include them meaningfully in designing and monitoring anti-racism policies.

As Nelson Mandela reminded us:

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion.”

Hatred is learned. But so are respect, solidarity and our shared humanity.

This anniversary must mobilize public support, not merely commemorate Durban.

We must move from declarations to funded national action plans;

from promises to measurable results;

from incomplete data to accountability;

from impunity to justice;

and from acknowledgment of historical wrongs to dignity, healing and meaningful repair.

Today, as we reflect on 25 years since Durban, let us urgently renew our political will together.

Let us defend the equal worth of every human being.

Let us build societies where diversity is valued as a source of strength.

And let us make equality and non-discrimination an enduring reality, for every person, everywhere.

In larger freedom.

In equal dignity.

And in solidarity with all.

The mandate is clear.

The responsibility is shared.

And the time for action is now.

I thank you.