Kids know nothing about racism. They're taught that by adults.

Ruby Bridges, Civil Rights Activist, first African American child to attend a white Southern elementary school

Non-discrimination is a core principle and norm of international human rights instruments, two of which are the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter.

Non-discrimination is an overarching principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits discrimination against children on any ground including the child’s or their parent’s or legal guardian’s “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status”. Article 2 of the CRC emphasises that all the rights in the Convention must apply to all children in the state, including visitors, refugees, children of migrant workers and those residing in the state illegally. Other articles of the CRC highlight groups of children who may suffer particular forms of discrimination, for example children without families (article 20), refugee children (article 22), children with disabilities (article 23), children of minorities or indigenous communities (article 30), children suffering economic and other exploitation (articles 32, 34, 36), children involved in the juvenile justice system and children whose liberty is restricted (articles 37 and 40), and children in situations of armed conflict (article 38).

Children may also suffer the consequences of discrimination against their parents, for example if children have been born out of wedlock or in other circumstances that deviate from traditional values, or if their parents are refugees or asylum seekers.

Discrimination occurs whenever people are treated less favourably than other people in a comparable situation only because they belong, or are perceived to belong, to a certain group or category of people. Discrimination is pervasive across all societies and takes many forms; the term is often combined to draw attention to specific situations.

• Direct discrimination occurs when a person or group of people is treated less favourably by comparison to how another person or another group of people in a similar situation have been or would be treated because of a particular characteristic they hold. For example, when Roma children are educated in a separate classroom or building.
• Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral rule, criterion or practice de facto puts representatives of a particular group at a disadvantage compared with others in a similar situation. For example, children whose parents attended the same school have priority at enrolment. This may hinder the access of children from poor backgrounds, Roma or immigrant families.
• Multiple discrimination occurs when a person is discriminated against on one particular (prohibited) ground in one certain situation, then based on another ground in another situation. For example, a refugee child might encounter discrimination in accessing a sports place because of their legal status and might be bullied at school because of their religion.
• Intersectional discrimination occurs when a person is discriminated against on more than one prohibited ground and these interact in a way that cannot be separated. For example, a girl with disabilities might face discrimination in access to education due to her gender and disability at the same time.
• Segregation is a systematic separation of a particular group from others that affects the enjoyment of their human rights, for example, when children are studying in a separate school building, or in a class or a group where the quality of education is low and the children feel stigmatised and excluded from the school community. Children can be affected by residential segregation, too, when they are living in residential areas with substandard housing conditions, without sanitation, school or even playgrounds.
• Harassment is unwanted conduct, bullying or other behaviour that creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment, such as racist bullying at school.
• Retaliation might occur when someone reports discrimination or harassment, for example if the parents report racist bullying of a teacher who, in turn, will give extra homework or tests to the child in order to have the complaint withdrawn or to force the child to leave the school.
• Positive discrimination or affirmative action: these are measures targeted at a particular group and intended to eliminate discrimination or to offset or redress disadvantages arising from structural discrimination and historical injustices. For example, establishing formal or de facto quotas for children from disadvantaged background to enter private schools.

There are other key concepts to understand in relation to the topic of discrimination. Stereotypes are shared beliefs or thoughts about particular groups. These generalisations become damaging when they are applied rigidly to individuals and are used as a reason for different treatment or behaviour. A prejudice is a particular class of stereotype, which contains a value judgement, usually negative. Intolerance is a lack of respect for practices or beliefs other than one’s own. It also involves the rejection of people whom we perceive as different, for example members of a social or ethnic group other than ours, or people who are different in political or sexual orientation. Intolerance can manifest itself in a wide range of actions, from avoidance and hate speech to physical injury or even murder. Discrimination and intolerance are often based on or reinforced by prejudice and stereotyping of people and social groups, consciously or unconsciously; they are an expression of prejudice in practice. Structural discrimination is the result of perpetuated forms of prejudice and the dominance of a certain group or groups. This has led to situations in which, even if officially members of other groups are allowed to access certain positions of power, the system makes it very difficult for them to do so.

There are several ways to fight against discrimination including:

• legal action to enforce the right to non-discrimination
• educational programmes that raise awareness about the mechanisms of prejudice and intolerance and how they contribute to discriminating and oppressing people, and programmes which demonstrate the appreciation of diversity and promoting tolerance
• activism by civil society to denounce discrimination and prejudice, to counteract hate crimes and hate speech, to support victims of discrimination or to promote changes in legislation.

The Council of Europe has a unique human rights monitoring body, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) working on issues relating to the fight against racism, discrimination (on grounds of “race”, ethnic / national origin, colour, citizenship, religion, language, sexual orientation
and gender identity), xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in Europe. The ECRI analyses the situation in the member states of the Council of Europe and makes recommendations on how to fight against the racism and intolerance identified there, including the design, implementation and evaluation of national strategies and policies.

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