Geneva - The United Nations top rights official, Navi Pillay, issued a call Friday denouncing racial discrimination, ahead of an event marking the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa nearly five decades ago.

"Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance are insidious, corrosive and sometimes explosive forces that devastate the lives of many individuals and, if left to fester, can undermine societies as a whole," said Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Right.

"They present a threat to security and often feature among the root causes of violent conflict," added Pillay, a South African jurist.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which falls on Saturday, was introduced by the UN following the deaths of 69 protesters in 1960, who were demonstrating against restrictions on movement of blacks under the apartheid regime.

Pillay has of late also been part of efforts to coordinate an upcoming international conference on racism, a follow up to a controversial 2001 meeting in Durban, South Africa.

Some Western countries who were upset with that summit and have said they will boycott the one next month if Israel was singled out for criticism again.

Zionism, the founding ideology of the Jewish State, came under attack at the first conference and some felt there were anti-Semitic undertones to the criticisms.

Canada and Israel have said they would not attend the so-called Durban Two event, and others, like the United States, were on the verge of making a similar call.

However, a recent revised draft declaration was circulated, omitting the controversial aspects. The drafters hoped the new text will bring more countries to the table and remove points of contention between various states.

Pillay called on governments to work together ahead of the conference to better combat racism, which she said still exists in every country. (dpa)