Day «Zero discrimination» (01/03)

«Discrimination – is a violation of human rights and should not be ignored. Everyone should have the opportunity to live life with respect and dignity». 8th UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

«Zero Discrimination Day, or Anti-Discrimination Day, has been celebrated annually on March 1 by decision of the UN since 2014. The establishment of Anti-Discrimination Day was initiated by the leaders of UNAIDS – of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.

Discrimination (from Latin discriminatio – division) – is «infringement». In the modern concept, this word is used to refer to the infringement of a person’s rights on various grounds (social, religious, racial, national, sexual, etc.) and can be carried out in different ways. This is evidenced by the historical experience through which absolutely all modern states have gone. Their gradation varies from banal unfair treatment to insult and restriction of rights even at the state level.

If discrimination cultivated by individual states against certain categories of their citizens still can be regulated by international law and international organizations, then discrimination at the everyday level is still strong, and its manifestations cannot be completely controlled even in developed democratic countries.

Therefore, the founders of the new date initially tried to draw attention to the problems of people with HIV and AIDS. And then we were talking not only about the problems of treatment or finding medications to save patients, but also about the fact that others’ ignorance of the symptoms and characteristics of this disease gave rise to animal fear of the healthy in front of the sick. And this fear has transformed into a special, unhealthy attitude towards patients with HIV and AIDS, which manifests itself in disgust, an attempt to isolate infected people, making them outcasts. All this limits patients' access to health care and negatively affects their treatment.

Unfortunately, discrimination continues to affect the lives of millions of people around the world. Slogan «Lend a helping hand!» shows in the best possible way the goals and objectives of those who care about today's date, and therefore the fate of other people.

The UN notes that 70 percent of the world's population experiences the consequences of inequality: this is a significant obstacle to economic and social development. The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt the most tangible blow to the most vulnerable and exacerbated inequalities.

Today's holiday calls on modern society to tolerate other people, regardless of their race, nationality, religion, gender, age, membership in a particular social group, regardless of their political and other views and beliefs. It recalls the right of everyone to a full life with dignity.

Therefore, the task of Day – «absolute» is for those who established this holiday, and for those who sincerely participate in the implementation of projects within its framework – achieving the state of society when discrimination within it is reduced to zero, that is, it will disappear completely.

Every year on March 1, starting in 2014, the issue of combating discrimination is raised at the UN, at meetings and forums within the UNAIDS program. Activists promote ideas and activities aimed at achieving the «zero discrimination» position using social networks. In support of the campaign to combat the infringement of human rights, governments of individual states and, in some countries, business representatives are included. Concerts, photo exhibitions, film screenings, and seminars are held around the world, the topics of which are related to the problems of discrimination, including discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS.

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