Zero Discrimination Day is celebrated on 1st March every year since 2014.  The day aims to promote equality and to eliminate discrimination before the law as well as in practice.  Zero Discrimination Day highlights how people can become informed about and promote inclusion, compassion, peace and, above all, a movement for change.  Zero Discrimination Day is helping to create a global movement of solidarity to end all forms of discrimination. The first Zero Discrimination Day was launched by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) with the aim of combating discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

The symbol of Zero Discrimination Day is the butterfly – Zero Discrimination Day invites everyone to be part of the transformation of society, and the symbol of a butterfly represents this notion of transformation.

Each Zero Discrimination Day has a theme, and this year’s one is ‘Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower’.  In many countries, laws result in people being treated differently, excluded from essential services or being subject to undue restrictions on how they live their lives, simply because of who they are, what they do or who they love.  Such laws are discriminatory – they deny human rights and fundamental freedoms.

To mark the day, Rendel is holding a lunchtime presentation on the topics of discrimination and unconscious bias.