Frej Fenniche, Senior Human Rights Officer

Room 2-025 OHCHR, Palais Wilson, Geneva

Mailing address: OHCHR, Palais Wilson, CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Tel. (41-22) 917-9229

Fax. (41-22) 917-9050 or 917-9056

Birgit Van Hout, Associate Human Rights Officer

Room 4-021 OHCHR, Palais Wilson, Geneva

Mailing address: OHCHR, Palais Wilson, CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Tel. (41-22) 917- 9381

Fax. (41-22) 917-9050 or 917-9056

Anthony Chartier, Intern

Tel. (41-22) 917-9447

Fax. (41-22) 917-9056

Sarah-Jayne Brodier, Secretary

Room 4-020 OHCHR, Palais Wilson, Geneva

Mailing address: OHCHR, Palais Wilson, CH 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Tel. (41-22) 917-9425

Fax. (41-22) 917-9050 or 917-9056

I. Second PrepCom ends - Third PrepCom planned:

The 2nd session of the Preparatory Committee met from 21 May-1 June 2001.

The report of the 2nd session is A/CONF.189/PC.2/L.1. The PrepCom had

before it a draft Declaration and Programme of Action with over 600

paragraphs of text to negotiate. By the end of the session, it had

"adopted" some 25 paragraphs of the document (A/CONF.189/PC.2/L.1/Add 1, 31

May 2001).

Therefore the PrepCom decided to hold a third session which will take place

in Geneva, 30 July to 10 August 2001. NGOs accredited to the World

Conference may attend and should follow the same procedure used for the

second session to get their badges. Send a letter, on letterhead, signed by

the person authorized to do so, using the following fax number -- (41-22)

917-9050 -- providing the names of the persons who will be attending on

behalf of the organization. If you need a letter for visa purposes, please

state that clearly. Badges can be picked up at the Villa les Feuillantines,

13 avenue de la Paix, Geneva, on 30 July.

The Group of 21 ? Barbados, Brazil, Chile and Mexico for the group of Latin

America and the Caribbean; Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia for the

African group; Canada, France, Sweden and the USA for the Western group;

the Czech Republic, Republic of Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia and the Russian Federation for the Eastern European group; and

India, Iran, Pakistan and Iraq for the Asian group; plus South Africa as

Chair ? a group established during the 2nd session to help with the

reorganization of the draft document to facilitate negotiation, will

continue working for two more weeks. Note that the Group of 21 is not

negotiating; it is clustering paragraphs that belong together, identifying

duplicative language, and making concrete proposals to the PrepCom on the

best possible way to structure and rationalize the text. This is a "closed"

working group and neither NGOs nor other States may observe or participate.

II. Documentation

At this time, neither the draft with which Governments were working, nor

the adopted paragraphs, are available on the website of the High

Commissioner for Human Rights. The NGO liaison unit will do its best to get

an electronic version of these documents to you as soon as possible, either

via the ListServ or by having the material posted on the web.

III. NGO Accreditation at the second session of the PrepCom

At the second session of the PrepCom, the Preparatory Committee confirmed

the accreditation of all NGOs recommended to the Bureau where there was no

challenge by a government and all NGOs that participated in the regional

inter-governmental meetings (Strasbourg, Santiago, Dakar and Tehran). The

list of these NGOs (approximately 740 organizations) is being posted on the

website of the High Commissioner and has been posted on the NGO website

Altogether, there were seven NGOs where a Government challenged the

accreditation and the Secretariat maintained the view that the NGOs had

fulfilled the criteria for participation in the World Conference and its

preparatory process. These cases were taken up by the Preparatory

Committee as follows:

Votes took place for the following NGOs because, in these five cases, a

Government challenged the challenge to the accreditation.

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Thailand. Challenged by Thailand.

The challenge was challenged by Sweden on behalf of the EU. Vote: 40

in favour, 38 against, 34 abstained. AIPP was accredited.

Peoples Forum for Human Right and Development, Bhutan (PFHRD), Nepal.

Challenged by Bhutan. The challenge was challenged by Sweden on behalf

of the EU. Vote: 42 in favour, 32 against, 34 abstained. PFHRD was

accredited.

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), India.

Challenged by China. The challenge was challenged by Sweden on behalf

of the EU. Vote: 44 in favour, 37 against, 31 abstained. TCHRD was

accredited.

Internatoinal Campaign for Tibet (ICT), United States. Challenged by

China. The challenge was challenged by the United States. Vote: 46 in

favour, 37 against, 29 abstained. ICT was accredited.

Human Rights in China (HRC), United States and Hong Kong. Challenged

by China. The challenge was challenged by the United States. Vote: 45

in favour, 50 against, 17 abstained. HRIC was not accredited.

Additionally:

The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR), France, was challenged by

Sri Lanka and France. No Government challenged the challenge.

Therefore, there was no vote and TCHR was not accredited.

The New Sudan Women Forum (NSWF), Kenya, was challenged by Sudan.

After the NSWF responded to the Government's comments, the Government

withdrew its challenge and the NSWF was, therefore, accredited.

VI. Extension of the Period of Accreditation and NEW DEADLINE

The second session of the PrepCom took the following decision: "that

the secretariat shall submit applications from non-governmental

organizations for accreditation to the World Conference by 2 July 2001, and

to permit provisional accreditation by the Bureau on the same basis,

pursuant to the provisions of Economic and Social Council Resolution

1996/31 and decision PC.1/5 of the first session of the Preparatory

Committee, as was the case between the first two sessions of the

Preparatory Committee." In order for the Secretariat to meet the deadline

of 2 July for submitting the names of NGOs to States, the Secretariat must

have COMPLETED APPLICATIONS in our offices NO LATER THAN 30 JUNE. There

will be no exceptions permitted. Therefore, please ensure that we have all

documentation for your application by this date (i.e., a completed

questionnaire, your by-laws or constitution, annual report, financial

report, list of board members). If you need an application form for

<achartier.hchr@unog.ch> asking for an application form.

VII. Travel Grants

The OHCHR has secured funding from the European Commission to provide

approximately 350 travel grants (of approx. $2,500 each) to NGOs accredited

to the World Conference to assist them to participate in the WCAR and the

NGO Forum which precedes it. These travel grants will be awarded to NGOs on

the basis of the following criteria established by the International NGO

Steering Committee, which met during the second session of the PrepCom, and

selected by the regional NGO Coordinating Committees. There is an

application form which must be filled in and submitted by the NGOs seeking

financial assistance. The form is available on both the website of the High

There is a closing date of 15 June and the applications must be sent to

<funding.hchr@unog.ch>. Please write in the "subject" field which region

(Asia, Americas, Europe, Africa) or which group (Indigenous, Youth) you are

from. Information on the criteria for selection will be sent to you

shortly and posted on the web.

VIII. NGO Forum

Information about the NGO Forum, 28 August - 1 September (including

permits you to register for the NGO Forum, to book hotel accommodation for

your stay in Durban, to book an exhibit booth or to book the space to hold

a panel, roundtable or other NGO Forum event.

IX. Youth Summit

There will be Youth Summit, 26-27 August for approximately 250 youth

delegates to the World Conference. An information note on the Youth Summit,

with details on how youth can participate, will be sent out shortly.

X. Registration for World Conference

NGOs accredited to participate in the WCAR, NGOs in consultative

status with ECOSOC, or indigenous peoples or organizations with standing

under ECOSOC Resolution 1995/32 may now register their delegates to

participate in the World Conference in Durban. The following procedure

should be followed.

(1) The organization should write on letterhead, signed by the person

authorized to do so, providing our office with a list of the names of the

individuals who will be attending for the NGO. This can be sent to the

attention of Sarah-Jayne Brodier by fax to: (41-22) 917-9050 or 917-9056.

If any of the individuals require visas, please inform us accordingly and

early enough, and send us a fax number for each individual who needs a

letter from us for visa purposes.

(2) Each individual who will attend should download the registration

form from the website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

photos. It should be sent to the attention of Sarah-Jayne Brodier. This

should make it possible for us to avoid long lines when individuals arrive

in Durban to collect their badges.