The TC structure is one of the mechanisms to be made use of at the WCAR NGO Forum to enable the NGOs attending the Conference to provide input on the subject matter of consideration before a TC session and to feed in their ideas, opinions and recommendations on various thematic subjects into the Forum’s discussion and deliberation process. The Draft Declaration and Programme of Action of the NGO Forum will serve as the basis for this process. Around 20 – 25 TCs are expected to be set up for this purpose. The contributions from the TCs will be used by the NGO Forum Drafting Committee while preparing the Final NGO Declaration and Programme of Action. NGOs need to ensure that their concerns on issues are raised in the TCs in order to guarantee the input into the NGO Forum documents.

1. To provide democratic space for the NGO delegates to participate in the deliberation process.
2. To enable the NGO community at Durban as a whole to take a collective stand on issues and programmes related to the WCAR theme.
3. To examine the intersectionality of racism in all its forms, in order to inform and promote a worldwide solidarity amongst all groups affected by racism, xenophobia and related intolerance and to provide opportunities for the NGOs from different contexts and cultures to interact with one another.
4. To enable the NGO Forum’s community the Final NGO Declaration and Programme of Action for the civil society to be used as an instrument for advocacy and lobbying at the inter-governmental WCAR and as reference document in the post Durban process.

1. The TCs will be formed and operate on the basis of 25 themes, and each will be linked accordingly to their respective thematic caucuses. Each TC will have a Chairperson/Facilitator, one or a panel of two to three Resource Persons and a Rapporteur.
2. Participation of NGO delegates in the TCs should be indicated at the registration for the NGO Forum (in case provisions are made by the NGO Forum Secretariat).
3. On arrival, the delegates will choose their TC. The delegates are recommended not to shift to other TCs for reasons of group stability, building up group belonging and for putting in more productive work.

Each TC is expected to work for 6 - 8 hours on the 28^th or 29^th August). The TC’s sessions will have two parts:

1. Welcome and introductory words by the Chair
2. Input by the Resource Person or the panel of Resource Persons
3. Questions, clarifications and discussion from the floor
4. Concluding observations by the Chair

Part II: The second part will be devoted entirely to discussion on the NGO Forum’s draft Declaration and Programme of Action.

1. The Chair is recommended to initiate and conduct the discussion and deliberation process after the presentations of the speakers by first introducing the document as a whole, and seeking the general sense of the floor, positive and negative points as well as suggestions. This general sense may be in relation to the thrust or focus, content, style, mood, approach, language, etc. of the document.

2. Then each TC should discuss in a sequential manner only

1. the Preamble,
2. texts of a general nature which shall be indicated in advance by the NGO Forum’s Drafting Committee, and
3. texts which are related to the specific theme of the TC.

3. The discussion will be carried out paragraph by paragraph to ensure an orderly and effective discussion.

4. Consensus should be preferred to voting where possible. Otherwise, a simple majority vote will be sufficient to arrive at a decision.

5. The Rapporteur will present the final set of deliberations to the NGO Forum Drafting Committee at the end of the TC session on 29^th August.

There are four panel discussions to be held on 28^th – 31^st August. Each session will last three hours (10 am - 1 pm).

Each plenary session and panel discussion will have a Chairperson, a Rapporteur and a panel of speakers. The Rapporteurs are expected to submit their report to the Drafting Committee.

The central themes of the panel discussions are:

• Colonialism,
• Institutionalized Racism/Casteism,
• Self Determination and
• Globalization

Each plenary session needs to reflect on the following themes of the WCAR:

• Sources, causes, forms of contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
• Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
• Measures of prevention, education and protection aimed to the eradication of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and
• Provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress, compensatory and other measures at the national, regional and international level.

The panel discussions should reflect the intersectionality of the theme.