PSPD in English Archive 2001-10-31   1252

Some Reflection on the World Conference Against Racism 2001

Some Reflection on the World Conference Against Racism 2001

Lee, Seonghoon: Secretary-General, Pax Romana, almolee@yahoo.com)

In retrospect, there seems to be many lessons to be learnt from the preparatory processes and main events of the NGO Forum and the 3rd World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) under the title “Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance” held in Durban, South Africa from August 26 to September 7, 2001. Below are some of the insights and perspectives gained through my personal experiences at the WCAR.

As the title indicates, the WCAR tried to cover a wide range of issues compared to the two previous ones in 1978 and 1983 focusing on the racism and racial discrimination during the time of Apartheid. It was necessary because there had been new types of racism-related human rights violations that needed to be urgently addressed. However, that made it difficult for the Conference to focus on key emerging global issues in terms of in-depth analysis and follow-up action plan.

Apart from the problem of too many issues on the agenda, some contentious issues such as Palestine and reparation/compensation for colonialism and slave trade took up most of the time and energy in the negotiation processes among the government. In fact, the agreements on those issues were reached after the official closing day when many delegations were leaving. Furthermore, many delegations particularly from the Arab region strongly expressed their dissatisfaction or resentment about the contents of the section on Palestine issue in the final Declaration and Plan of Action adopted.

For NGOs, the issue of reparation and compensation easily found a consensus among most participants while the issue of Palestine became very controversial and provocative particularly among the conservative Jewish NGOs and radical Palestine NGOs. It was a matter of great regret that some NGOs – particularly Jewish and western/international NGOs disassociated themselves from the NGO Declaration and NGO Community as a whole failed to overcome the politicization and political manipulation.

According to the statistics available, about 7,000 people from both South Africa and abroad participated in the WCAR NGO Forum. The number is relatively low compared to that of those UN conferences in the 1990s. It was mainly because of the lack of funding provided by the UN. However, more importantly, perhaps politically, many NGOs, particularly in the West did not consider it very important and relevant to their work. Although the title and theme was broad enough, they failed or ignored to link them to their ongoing work in the field of human rights, development, gender, environment, etc. Furthermore many did not feel comfortable psychologically and were reluctant about looking at the reality from a racism angle. This type of deeply-rooted racial attitude was one of the underlying factors in contributing to the tension and conflict among the NGOs from the North and the South during the NGO Forum.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks took place just two days after the closing of the WCAR. It made most participants critically review the painful processes of the negotiations on the Palestine and other related issues. Many felt that it could have been prevented if the WCAR were able to produce the agreement satisfactory to both sides of Palestine and Israel.

Due to the domination of two main highly political issues, many other issues which are equally important could not draw due attention. Nevertheless, their presence was very important in helping people to think about those issues in a more holistic and interconnected manner as illustrated in several key words like “intersectionality”, “connecting the disconnected”, “linkage”, etc.

It is also very interesting to note that the campaign group on Dalits issue – “untouchables” mainly in South India was one of the most successful advocate groups at the WCAR and they were able to put their issue on the main agenda of both NGOs and governmental meetings. However, due to skillful sabotage tactics by the Indian government, their concerns could not be accommodated in the final declaration in terms of wording. Nevertheless, the WCAR provided a good opportunity for them to globalize their own issues and develop a global network for their future struggle.

Finally, can we say that the WCAR was a success? It depends on where you stand and from which perspective you look at it. Perhaps it is too early to say about it because its success can be only measured by the implementation of the plans of action on the ground, particularly at the national level. Perhaps the Durban +5, if any, will be a right venue and moment to access the impact of the WCAR itself.

All equal – all different / All different – all equal

Pax Romana ICMICA

C.P. 315, 15 Rue Du Grand-Bureau

Geneva 24, Switzerland

Tel (+41-22)-823-0707

Fax (+41-22)-823-0708

www.paxromana.org

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