A Right to Media? Lorie M. Graham - Columbia Law School

452 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [41:429
ethnical [sic] groups.” 84 Moreover, Article 4 of the Race Convention
(similar to the ICCPR) requires states to condemn all propaganda
and all organizations which are based on ideas or theories of
superiority of one race or group of persons of one color or ethnic
origin, or which attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and
discrimination in any form, and undertake to adopt immediate and
positive measures designed to eradicate all incitement to, or acts of,
such discrimination. 85
Thus, Articles 4, 5, and 7 of the Race Convention impose
certain duties on states to adopt measures that ensure against
prejudice and discrimination in the seeking, receiving and imparting
of information. These provisions carry particular relevance in the
context of indigenous peoples, given their unique historical and
contemporary circumstances. 86 In order to ensure that indigenous
peoples can exercise their fundamental rights to non-discrimination,
the Committee has called upon State parties to:
(a) Recognize and respect indigenous distinct culture,
history, language and way of life as an enrichment of the
State’s cultural identity and to promote its preservation;
(b) Ensure that members of indigenous peoples are free and
equal in dignity and rights and free from any
discrimination, in particular that based on indigenous
origin or identity . . . . ;
84. United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature Mar. 7, 1966, art. 7, S. Exec.
Doc. C, 95-2, at 5 (1978), 660 U.N.T.S 195, 222 (entered into force Jan. 4, 1969)
[hereinafter CERD]. The later part of Article 7 is similar to Article 8 of the
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and applies
unambiguous language to the responsibility of States to affirmatively act to
eradicate discrimination. Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, G.A. Res. 1904 (XVIII) art. 8, U.N. Doc. A/RES/18/1904 (Nov. 20,
1963).
85. CERD, supra note 84, art. 4.
86. As one recent Australian NGO report to the Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination notes, “media plays a central role in the
vilification of Indigenous people, particularly through gross sensationalism,
emotive use of language, and use of selective images . . . . ” National Human
Rights Network of the National Association of Community Legal Centres,
Australian Non-governmental Organisations’ Submission to the Committee on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 25 (2005), available at
http://www.fecca.org.au/Submissions/2005/Submissions_2005001.pdf.