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1. NGO Briefing Note Number 6 from Laurie Wiseberg
Post-Durban Information Note 6 - Declaration and Programme of Action:
Friends:
You will all be pleased to know that, during the final days of 2001, agreement was reached on the Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance adopted in Durban, South Africa on 8 September 2001. This clears the way for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to begin actively implementing, in cooperation with all concerned, the anti-discrimination agenda elaborated in the final documents of the Durban Conference.
The issuance of the final report of the World Conference had been delayed principally because of a difference of views or perceptions concerning the placement of several paragraphs in the Declaration and Programme of Action. In a letter dated 27 December 2001, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa, informed the High Commissioner that, "having taken all considerations and views into account I have decided as President of the Conference that the text of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action circulated at the briefing of Permanent Missions in Geneva on 24 September 2001 by and with the authority of the secretariat, should be published without further delay. The Secretariat should make the necessary technical improvements to the text without changing the substance and include the existing subtitles." Mr. Louis Michel, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, the then-representatives of the Presidency of the European Union, was informed of this request. He indicated to the High Commissioner that the position of Foreign Minister Zuma resolved all outstanding issues and that the Declaration and Programme of Action could be published as soon as possible.
I am, therefore, attaching an electronic version of the Declaration and Programme of Action in English, to this e-mail. It has also being posted on the web at . As soon as the text is available in the other UN languages, they will be posted on the OHCHR website. In addition, the report of the Conference, which includes the Declaration and Programme of Action, will be issued shortly.
Friends and colleagues, this is probably the last e-mail you will receive from me as NGO Liaison Officer for the World Conference. A new Anti-Discrimination Unit has been constituted to follow-up on the Durban agenda, while I will go on to other work. You will be able to reach me at the e-mail noted below for a little while, and when I have new coordinates, I will send them. In the meantime, I want to thank all of you who worked together with us to ensure that we got a document with a strong anti-discrimination agenda that we can use to begin seriously tackling the scourges of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The role of NGOs in the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action will be critical and the Office will be looking to you to assist in this vital work.
With best wishes to you all for the coming year.
Laurie Wiseberg
NGO Laision WCAR
Tel. (41 22) 917 9393
Fax. (41 22) 917 9050
E-mail: lwiseberg.hchr@unog.ch
2. for news from the AntiRacismNet website:
http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/arn/worldconf/involved.htm
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