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DURBAN,
Sep 2 (IPS) - Civil society groups have been unable to forge a final
declaration or programme of action to fight racism after five days
of intensive talks alongside a similarly fractious meeting of their
governments .
The Aug. 28-Sep. 1 NGO (non-governmental organisation) Forum, held
in tandem to the Aug. 31-Sep. 7 World Conference Against Racism,
was marred by disorganisation and irreconcilable disputes over the
wording of the declaration and action plan.
Tsering
Jampa of the International Campaign for Tibet said her organisation
was shocked to find that no mention of Tibet had been made, despite
recommendations from Forum commissions. She accused several NGOs
from China of being government fronts and said they had attempted
for days to remove references to Tibet.
"We are shocked and disappointed that there is no NGO support for
our cause," she said. Jampa likened the Tibetan issues to those
confronting Palestinians, which she said were given notable space
in the draft Forum documents.
The
final declaration and programme of action were to have been presented
to United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson during
the Forum's closing ceremony Saturday.
The
combined document was intended to inform discussions at the intergovernmental
conference, which is being attended by only a select few NGO representatives.
The 10-year programme of action was to serve as a blueprint and
framework for action by governments and civil society to correct
and eliminate racism worldwide.
A delegation representing 20 NGOs from Eastern and Central European
countries including Azerbaijan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia,
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Yugoslavia said that their region
also was neglected.
"A
global forum such as this should have a global perspective," said
one member. State-sponsored racism had resulted in ethnic cleansing
in several countries of the region, according to Yuri Dzhibladze
from the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights.
He
said that governments denied the problem was racism and that the
year long run up to the Forum would have been a waste of time and
effort if the final conference documents excluded the region. Dzhibladze
said that his delegation had tried to play by the rules - which
he said were not very clear - to get their issues addressed.
"We didn't feel like just joining the demonstrations. We were trying
to provide information, the facts," he said. Yet, delegation members
said they felt the Forum was more successful for those who had obtained
a high profile through protests.
Jampa
said that during the NGO Forum most delegates focused on parochial
interests and few showed solidarity with others. "Everyone is working
on their own issue. Everyone has an agenda," she said.
Palestinian Zeiad Abbas said that the Forum proved a good opportunity
for his delegation to raise issues about Palestinian people and
refugees. He learned from other groups and found similarities, especially
during discussions with a South African landless movement.
Abbas
said that the Forum set the groundwork for international campaigns
against racism. Within two days of the Forum opening, delegates
expressed concern about programme changes, including the names of
facilitators and rapporteurs.
Some
facilitators were given 24 hours' notice that they would have to
chair commissions that covered issues with which they were unfamiliar.
Delivery of the draft final documents was delayed, organisers said,
because of difficulties with translation and photocopying.
One
worker charged with delivering the documents to the Forum venue
said staff had only four hours in which to prepare and circulate
them to about 7,000 participants. Then, contradictions emerged from
the draft documents, particularly relating to the Middle East crisis
- which dominated the Forum.
A
section on anti-Semitism stated: "We are concerned with the prevalence
of anti-Zionism and attempts to delegitimise the State of Israel
through wildly inaccurate charges of genocide, war crimes, crimes
against humanity, ethnic cleansing and apartheid".
However, the section on Palestine stated that the Forum declared
"Israel as a racist, apartheid state in which Israel's brand of
apartheid as a crime against humanity has been characterised by
separation and segregation, dispossession, restricted land access,
denationalisation, 'bantustanisation' and inhuman acts."
The
anti-Semitism section was subsequently voted out of the document.
Likewise, a two-day youth summit that also preceded the intergovernmental
conference failed to come up with a final declaration. (END)
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