Yesterday, AfriForum presented concerns about ongoing discrimination and hate speech against minorities in South Africa during the sixteenth session of the United Nations (UN) Forum on Minority Issues (video recording of the session can he found here, with Afriforum’s contribution from 1:41:14).

We covered South Africa's appearance on the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) earlier this week, in which Ronald Lamola blamed all violent inter-ethnic tensions on whites, and the panel demonstrated sufficient incompetence to be shown up by our own infamously incompetent Ministers.

Issues raised by AfriForum include farm attacks, the chanting of the song "Kill the Boer" by Julius Malema, the enormous number of race-based discriminatory laws, the South African government's proposed exclusion of white farmers from tariff-free agricultural exports to the West, and the use of race as a condition for water license applications.

At the Forum on Minority Issues, Ernst van Zyl, AfriForum's Head of Public Relations, characterised the UN's insistence on quiet diplomacy to be disappointing, and questioned the lack of criticism from international bodies for anti-minority discrimination in South Africa.

Other contributions at the Forum on Minority Issues included caste-based discrimination against Dalits in Bangladesh, Turkish discrimination against Greeks and Armenians, Pakistani discrimination against Sindhi, and Indian discrimination against Muslims.

The European Union made a vague and largely empty contribution, but called for increased funding for NGOs promoting the ideology of intersectional feminism, while Turkey attacked Europeans for their distaste for Turkish mass migration, and denied all accusations of mistreatment of minorities in their own country.

van Zyl emphasized the importance of these forums as opportunities to connect with other organizations representing minority groups and international players sympathetic to AfriForum's cause.

The findings highlighted in AfriForum's presentation and reports garnered significant interest behind the scenes among representatives at the Minority Forum, according to Van Zyl.

"Doing presentations and submitting reports at the UN serve as a massive boost for AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement's legitimacy internasionally and contribute towards further establishing ourselves abroad as trustworthy authorities on minority issues in South Africa. You'd be amazed how many doors participation at these Forums open for us.

Secondly, the minority-orientated organisations that approach us at these events and who give their contact details and ask for copies of our reports is also invaluable. Even something as simple as a CERD comittee member pressing the South African government about farm murders and Kill the Boer this week helps normalize these issues."

But this came against strong headwinds among the international community.

AfriForum was only afforded two minutes to make their report, and afterwards, was informed by the Chair that their contribution was irrelevant to the agenda of the panel. It is unclear why this specific contribution was deemed irrelevant, considering comparable complaints from almost all others being accepted. No such comments were made by the Chair in response to the presentations by the Turkish-Armenian, Bangla-Dalit, Pakistani-Sindhi, Indian-Muslim, Yemeni-Bahai, Turkish-Greek, Bantu-Somali, Kurdish, Roma or Yazidi representatives.

But AfriForum was not entirely alone - prior to the South African submission, the Chinese permanent delegate as well as the Cuban delegate interrupted the Uyghur representative from Kyrgyzstan by insisting that criticisms of specific states be prohibited, because it would be disrespectful of the members to bring up their human rights violations. This was supported by Iran and Russia as well.

The Uyghur representative brought up the Chinese practices of destroying religious monuments and graveyards, forced sterilisation of Uyghur women, mass re-education camps where rape, torture and abuse was witnessed, and forced marriages to Chinese men. The Uyghurs are prohibited from taking jobs other than manual agricultural labour, and prohibited from speaking their native language.

The Chair’s response was to uphold these points of order, and it is in this light that AfriForum’s contribution was characterised as being irrelevant. The United States representative, in response to constant point of order interruptions by Iran during the presentation by the Iranian minority representative, called for an end to interruptions of NGO presentations and a rebuke of the Chair's attitude toward NGO representatives. He recieved a round of applause, to the irritation of the Chairwoman.

While China and her allies’ interests can constitute a firm block against criticisms, the dismissal of AfriForum’s complaints cannot be explained by this alone, after all, other contributors were not cautioned by the Chair. It must also be seen in a slightly broader context - after all, South Africa's government wasn’t present to object, and neither did other BRICS members.

But the agenda of the UN itself and of its Western members may have something to do with it. Earlier this week, AfriForum submitted a report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), concluding its international campaign at the UN.

This contribution was read from by the delegate to CERD from Mauritius, as well as the representative from Ghana.

But comments from the German representative on Tuesday explained (see 2:31:30)that the discriminatory laws in South Africa are a necessary mechanism for restitution and the achievement of equality, and as such do not constitute discrimination under the UN's values. Both the German and United States representatives (see 43:10)raised questions demanding to know what the South African government intends to do to address the recommendations of the 2017 land audit, (which include improving data collection, and increasing taxes on land owners to fund land reform), and what they are doing to correct the "overrepresentation" of white landowners.

While these representatives are selected and paid by their host countries, they are, according to the UN, "independent experts who, although nominated and elected by states parties, serve in their personal capacity. They do not represent their country of origin nor their region."

Despite these challenges, the contacts made with foreign representatives will hopefully prove useful in normalising discussion of these issues, and in the current Western political climate, where many are turning away from progressive ideas, attention to the plight in South Africa will only strengthen the chances of diplomatic support, including for Cape independence.

"With another successful international campaign concluded, AfriForum will now continue its primary strategy to establish and expand state-independent, community-based solutions in South Africa," Van Zyl concluded.