
Image Credit: Flickr
United Nations Survey Asking Staff If They Are 'Yellow' Taken Down Amid Racism Row

Writer: Navya Singh
Navya writes and speaks about matters that often do not come out or doesn’t see daylight. Defense and economy of the country is of special interest to her and a lot of her content revolves around that.
India, 20 Aug 2020 11:06 AM GMT | Updated 20 Aug 2020 4:15 PM GMT
Editor : Prateek Gautam |
A free soul who believes that journalism, apart from politics, should stand for social cause and the environment.
Creatives : Abhishek M
" An engineer by profession, Abhishek is the creative producer of the team, graphic designing is his passion and travelling his get away. In more ways than one, he makes the content visually appealing."
The survey was sent to thousands of staff on August 19 with an email stating that it was a part of the campaign of the UN secretary general, António Guterres, "to eradicate racism and promote dignity".
The United Nations (UN) has been blamed by some of its staff for promoting 'racism' after it conducted a survey that asked its employees how they identify themselves, and included "yellow" among the possible answers. Other categories included black, brown, white, mixed/multi-racial and any other.
The survey was sent to thousands of staff on August 19 with an email stating that it was a part of the campaign of the UN secretary general, António Guterres, "to eradicate racism and promote dignity".
"The first question is insane, deeply offensive and hard to fathom how in an organisation as diverse as the United Nations this question was approved for release in a system-wide survey," one UN staff member said.
The email accompanying the survey also read: "This survey will provide us with the needed data to understand the depth of racism within the United Nations." It adds, "We are not immune to the issue."
After much criticism, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the survey would be "taken off-line and revised appropriately taking into account the legitimate concerns" that had been expressed.
Several brands, organisations and companies have been under the scanner for promoting racism, gender stereotypes. The increasing pressure on the organisations come in the wake of global protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black American who died in May.
Also Read: Kerala: Pregnant Buffalo Killed For Meat In Malappuram District, Six Held