For Bešić, a defining moment came at university. In the mid-1990s, the Open Society Foundation sought to offer a scholarship to a Roma student, but her university struggled to find a recipient because they had never considered that a Roma person might be among their students.

“They spent hours with me trying to ask indirectly if I was Roma, as if it were a shameful thing. Finally, they asked the question, and I said yes,” she said. “At that moment, I realized that my identity was something they considered problematic.”

Velásquez Nimatuj, meanwhile, said she grew up and came face to face with the brutality of racism in Guatemala, including from State institutions.

“I will never forget how people my age were stopped and captured by the police just for wearing their traditional clothing or for not speaking Spanish,” she said.

Their experiences reflect global structural discrimination patterns.

“Recent studies in Europe have identified a worsening trend of racism against people of African descent, as well as ongoing pervasive discrimination against Roma,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk. “The poverty rate for Indigenous Peoples exceeds 40 percent in multiple countries in Latin America.”

Fighting for change

Rather than accept their realities, both women turned their experiences into a lifelong fight for racial justice.

Bešić focused on Roma children's education and policy reform, working to ensure they received the same opportunities as others.

“We found that some school directors don’t want to enrol Roma children in school and have endless excuses,” she said. “There were also petitions from parents objecting to having Roma children in the same class as their children.”

For Velásquez Nimatuj, the fight against discrimination took the form of documenting Indigenous struggles, confronting stereotypes and pushing for justice. As an anthropologist and journalist, she has used research to expose structural racism.

Both women also rejected being labelled as ‘minorities’ in their own lands.

“While we are still called ‘national minorities’ and excluded from decision-making, we will always be seen as second-class citizens,” Bešić said. “But we are also human beings, and we deserve the same rights.”

Similarly, Velásquez Nimatuj criticized the way Indigenous peoples were referred to in Guatemala’s Constitution, which positioned them as subjects in need of protection rather than equal citizens.

“In Guatemala, the category of “Peoples” is not recognized as valid. The Constitution continues to view Indigenous peoples as communities in need of protection, maintaining a paternalism that continues to marginalize us,” she said.

The UN in the fight against racism

UN Human Rights fights racism through research, advocacy and policy support. It helps States meet their international human rights obligations related to racial discrimination, including by supporting ICERD implementation. Another key area of work is supporting the UN anti-racism human rights mechanisms.

Both Bešić and Velásquez Nimatuj have turned to international human rights mechanisms to push for change.

“The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is one of the tools we use as an argument in our advocacy; without the international instruments and mechanisms, our laws would completely ignore us,” Bešić said. “Nothing about Roma people without us.”

Velásquez Nimatuj emphasized that, despite its importance, ICERD is now under attack.

“Today more than ever, the Convention should be strengthened because we are seeing how the institutions created to advance racial justice are being dismantled,” she said.

Hamood said that it is high time to dismantle structures and systems designed and shaped by enslavement, colonialism and successive racially discriminatory policies and systems.

“ICERD is the principal international instrument to eliminate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” she said. “A critical step towards this goal is having comprehensive national laws and policies that include a clear definition of racial discrimination in line with article 1 of the Convention.”

Türk emphasized the urgency of collective action.

“We must stand up for justice together. Work with affected communities. And challenge the biases in our societies,” he said. “States must account for the terrible legacies of the past and help to overcome hundreds of years of discrimination, including through reparations.”

As the world marks 60 years of ICERD, the fight against racism is far from over. UN Human Rights remains concerned about persistent inequalities.

“We cannot accept any rollback of hard-won gains,” Türk said. “Our societies have to dismantle entrenched power structures and confront white supremacy.”

Hamood said that this anniversary is an opportunity for States, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, business enterprises, UN agencies and individuals to step up efforts to uphold the principles and obligations of the Convention.