TNAG-1152-FCO40-1432-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-Commonwealth-1982 — Page 26

t

Lusaka Declaration of the Commonwealth on Racism and Racial Prejudice

We, the Commonwealth Heads of Government, recalling the Declaration of Commonwealth Principles made at Singapore on 22 January 1971 and the statement on Apartheid in Sport, issued in London on 15 June 1977, have decided to proclaim our desire to work jointly as well as severally for the eradication of all forms of racism and racial prejudice.

The Commonwealth is an institution devoted to the promotion of international understanding and world peace, and to the achievement of equal rights for all citizens regardless of race, colour, sex, creed or political belief, and is committed to the eradication of the dangerous evils of racism and racial prejudice.

We now, therefore, proclaim this Lusaka Declaration of the Commonwealth on Racism and Racial Prejudice.

United in our desire to ri i the world of the evils of racism and racial prejudice, we proclaim our faith the inherent dignity and worth of the human person and declare that:

(i) the peoples of the Commonwealth have the right to live

freely in dignity and equality, without any distinction or exclusion based on race, colour, sex, descent, or national or ethnic origin;

(ii)

while everyone is free to retain diversity in his or her culture and lifestyle, this diversity does not justify the perpetuation of racial prejudice or racially discrimi- natory practices;

(iii) everyone has the right to equality before the law and

equal justice under the law;

(iv) everyone has the right to effective remedies and pro- tection against any form of discrimination based on the grounds of race, colour, sex, descent, or national or ethnic origin.

We reject as inhuman and intolerable all policies designed to perpetuate apartheid, racial segregation or other policies based on theories that racial groups are or may be inherently superior or inferior.