A/HRC/31/75
worker made more than the median household income of an African-American family and a
Latino family combined, indicating the great economic opportunity in expanded access to
the technology sector. The pathway out of poverty was through increased equitable
educational access and economic opportunity, she concluded. As jobs and opportunity in
the technology sector continued to increase in the global economy, it would be vital for
traditionally marginalized communities to have both the skill set and unfettered access to
the technology industry. She therefore recommended a set of policy measures, namely:
• Policies that expanded equal access to mainstream financial services and affordable
rental and owner-occupied housing
• Policies that incentivized schools and school districts to increase diversity and
decrease racial and socioeconomic isolation
• Policies that provided significant resources to support educational access and
opportunities for underrepresented communities
• Policies that significantly expanded science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) education and access to computer science education
• Policies that expanded access to technology and broadband Internet access,
specifically programmes that expanded mobile technology as a means to expand
education and financial access
48.
Mr. Thierry del Prado delivered a statement on behalf of Mr. Ruteere, the Special
Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance. He noted that in the report of the Special Rapporteur to the General Assembly
in November 2013 (A/68/333), he had addressed the issues of racism and poverty. The
Special Rapporteur had found that the continuing socioeconomic vulnerability of minorities
was frequently the result of historical legacies. In the report, he analysed the legal and
policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels; the manifestations of
poverty and racism in the areas of economic and social rights such as education, adequate
housing and health care; and other rights, including the right to work in just conditions,
social security, food and water. Education remained an important vehicle for freeing racial
and ethnic minorities from poverty, as it provided them with the skills and opportunities for
better livelihoods. Realizing the right to education for all children and, in particular, for
racial and ethnic minorities should be the one of the cornerstones of the strategies directed
at reducing poverty and ending discrimination. Another important issue was health care, as
vulnerable and marginalized groups faced obstacles in accessing health care. Similarly,
legal insecurity of tenure for poor and marginalized ethnic and racial minorities forced
some of the members of those communities to move to urban areas, where the only
affordable housing was in informal and slum settlements with substandard housing
conditions and the daily risks of eviction. This year, he concluded, his report to the
Assembly would be on the need for better data and research to address the problem of racial
discrimination and the structural inequalities associated with race and ethnicity. The
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the General Assembly in
its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, hinged on the collection and utilization of
disaggregated data.
49.
Mr. López made a presentation on racial discrimination and poverty in Colombia.
He noted that only the implementation of policies of affirmative action or positive
differentiation could improve the quality of life of the poorest Afro-Colombian and
indigenous people. In addition, such policies would encourage processes of upward social
mobility for those who made great efforts to invest in human capital. Mr. López proposed a
number of policies in that regard, as follows:
12
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents