 Monday, July 30 - First day'Ask yourselves, is the position I'm taking likely to lead to a succesfull outcome in Durban?'High Commissioner Mary Robinson
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EditorialSince not everybody has arrived here (over a thousand are expected) but there are already some meetings, the general 'feel' of the first day was a bit chaotic. 'What's happening? Who meets and where? How does it work here? Can I make photocopies? Do they have Internet access?' We spend some time dragging newbies around, which was fun, and after a while they got caught-up in the general happenings and dissapeared in the political babylon  Icare Newsteam.  Videobite of the day:
click here to play the RealVideo file. If you don´t have RealPlayer: Today´s happeningsThe first day... While the temperature in Geneva came upto 30 degrees inside the Palais de Nations things were definitly hotting up too. The day started with opening remarks by Mary Robinson. Two quotes from these remarks, addressing two very, if not the most, important issues:"A major preoccupation during the preparations for this Conference has been how to address the wrongs of the past and the effects of mass slavery and other past exploitations which persist even today. I have made clear my own views on this -that it is essential to recognise these wrongs and the negative impact they have had and to do so in a solemn way which truly respects the suffering of the victims. To those who argue that the emphasis on the past has been to great I would say that we must come to terms with the past in order to move forward. Finding ways of addressing |
the past will
allow us to focus on the daunting challenge of addressing racism in all its
contemporary forms and spelling out a blueprint for the future."
"One point which I feel I must make clear today refers to language in the
draft document that seeks to equate Zionism with racism. As delegates are
well aware, the United Nations has already dealt with this issue at great
length. The Resolution stating that Zionism is a form of racism was
repealed a decade ago. I believe that it is inappropriate to reopen this
issue in any form here, and that anyone who seeks to do so is putting the
success of the Durban Conference at risk." Next point of order was if ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association) should get accredited for Durban. A vote was taken outcome: 43 yes, 43 no and 26 abstentions. In case of a tie, the abstentions count as no. So ILGA is out! You can see an interview with ILGA's co-secretary general Phumi Mtetwe on the I CARE website. The greatest shame of it all is that they were short only 1 vote which was the one from Sweden, and today was the day the Swedish delegation arrived late. In the afternoon work on the governmental draft Declaration and Program of Action started, tomorrow we'll find out how far they have gotten. At 9 in the morning there was a NGO briefing, at which time most NGOs (including us) were getting there passes, so only about 10 people showed up. From tomorrow on the 'normal' briefings will start, so then we'll report on them. The International Steering Committee(ISC) already had a meeting yesterday the minutes of that meeting can also be found on our website. Yesterday's meeting dealt mainly with logistics. Today started with a round of urgents matters that were brought to the table by individual ISC members: Alberto Saldeman told he negotiated prioritising interventions by NGOs. First interventions are heard from the Caucus representatives and the remaining time is for individual NGOs.  Paul Divikar expressed his concern about 5 paragraphs which have dissapeared from the governmental draft after the group of 21 worked on the documents. Laurie Wiseberg explained the missing paragraphs had been traced and that they would be added to the draft again, it was a administrative error which caused them to be omitted. However, if for some reason they would not be added, then it will become a political issue. Marcia Andrews brought up the ILGA matter and it was decided the ISC will address this issue in a letter to the assembly. We'll publish this letter on the website as soon as it is available. The meeting concluded with a discussion about the Youth Summit, for which funding is very difficult(read practically non-existent) and the content is shaping up great. A new version of the NGO draft Declaration & Program of Action will be discussed in the ISC meeting tomorrow and hopefully posted on a website as soon as possible so everybody can have a look at it and give their comments/opinion. |
ArticlesEuropean Union(EU) position paper on WCAR The European Union(EU) has published a position paper on the World Conference. The document is dated 16-17 July 2001, while Belgium has the EU presidency. The EU has 15 memberstates. In 5 paragraphs the slavery/colonialism/compensation issue(s) is mentioned: 9. The European Union deplores the persistence of racism everywhere in the world, in its many and various forms, ranging from discriminatory practices, inequality of access to goods and services, incitement to hatred on the part of certain media, political parties and political figures and leaders to inhuman and degrading forms of treatment, acts of violence and the most serious forms of persecution and crime, including slavery and ethnic cleansing. 11. With regard to the historical aspects, the European Union profoundly deplores the human suffering, both individual and collective, caused by slavery and the slave trade. They are amongst the most dishonourable and abhorrent chapters in the history of humanity. The European Union condemns these practices, in the past and present, and regrets the suffering they have caused.  12. Some effects of colonialism which still persist today have caused immense suffering. Any act causing such suffering must be condemned, wherever and whenever it occurred. |
13. Through these acts of acknowledgement, regret and condemnation, the European Union, aware of the moral obligation incumbent on the entire international community vis-à-vis the victims of these tragedies, shows its firm determination to honour this obligation and to play its part. It considers that it is the obligation of each individual to remember the suffering caused by events occurring at different points in history, so that they will never be forgotten. The obligation to remember will make it possible to build the future on solid foundations and to prevent the recurrence of the grave errors of the past. 14. The European Union is firmly convinced that the guarantee that contemporary victims of racism can have access at national level to effective remedies to obtain fair and proper redress for damage suffered is one of the main instruments for combating xenophobia, racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance. It observes that the existing regional and international legal instruments concern exclusively the contemporary forms of racism. Quotes of the day:
Comrade? What's a comrade?  |
Contributions by others:
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