Are Reparations Enough to End Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances?

The General Assembly Third Committee kicked off their session in Topic Area 1: Elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances. The Committee is impassioned to tackle this topic. While countries gave their remarks on this topic, the Representative of Iran, in particular, gave an impassioned speech on their stance. Iran expressed a desire to see reparations as part of the solution to this issue. Hopefully they will be able to elaborate and work with the Committee to hash out what type of reparations and how they will be implemented. As the debate continued, the Dominican Republic also requested reparations for indigenous peoples around the world and called for an end to racism and xenophobia. 

As the representatives returned for their morning session, there was a motion to switch topic areas to their second topic of Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa. In a vote of 20 in favor, 51 opposed and 6 abstentions, the motion failed. The Committee is highly motivated, and committed to tackling this racism issue head on. The Committee has been calling for collaboration so they can work together to help end racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances. 

Through the course of the day, will the Committee be able to begin a draft resolution that is a collaborative effort from the whole Committee? Will communications break down as they delve into the complexity of this topic? Their collaborative spirit and passion to work towards a solution is inspiring and refreshing.