"This is one of the less controversial issues at the conference," a senior U.N. official told IPS. "We are working on the mechanics of it."

The two most contentious issues threatening to derail the Aug. 31-Sep. 7 conference are reparations for past slavery and condemnation of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

A proposed Programme of Action to be adopted at the conference urges member states to collect, compile, and disseminate data on groups that are victims of racially motivated discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.

The data would include race, nationality, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sex, age, and other factors and would be used to develop and evaluate human rights policies and practices.

Addressing a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Durban Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the publication of an annual report on the state of racism worldwide.

Annan urged NGOs to work together to produce such a report, to which different groups in each country would contribute.

"I mean a report that highlights not only violations (of human rights) but also success stories, so that practices which have worked against racism and intolerance in one country can be tried in others, too," he said.

In the draft Programme of Action to be discussed in Durban, member states are being urged to "institute routine monitoring of racist acts at the local and national levels, and of the situation of marginalised racial and ethnic groups." These groups include refugees, migrants, indigenous peoples, women and children.

Governments also are being asked to compile and publish data to determine the extent to which people with disabillities, including those from disadvantaged groups, are not receiving basic social services so that states can develop specific policies and programmes to remedy this type of exclusion.

Additionally, member states are urged to regularly compile and publish statistics on incidents and complaints of police brutality to determine whether criminal justice policies or programmes implicitly discriminate against racial and ethnic minorities.

In particular, governments are asked to take effective measures to eliminate the phenomenon popularly known in the United States as "racial profiling" - the practice of police and other law enforcement officers relying on race, descent, or national or ethnic origin as a basis for investigating whether an individual is engaged in criminal activity.

The conference will also decide on the creation of a new international body "to monitor racially discriminatory attitudes and acts." The proposed body would consist of five eminent persons from different regional groups, appointed by the secretary general in consultations with member states.

The conference also is expected to recommend the creation of an NGO web site, in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, to receive and disseminate information about acts of racism and racial discrimination.

Additionally, the United Nations will be asked to prepare and publicise a systematic collection of national anti-discrimination legislation, including any available legal and other remedies.

Annan told NGOs they have a key role to play in the global fight against racism.

"Many of you, I know, feel that your concerns are not properly represented at this conference," he said. "But your anger and frustration can be valuable in themselves, if you channel them into the creation of a worldwide anti-racist movement, in which all your different struggles will converge."

The important thing, he pointed out, was not the degree of formal recognition given to NGOs in the conference hall, "but what you can do when you get back home."

Texts adopted in conference halls, he argued, will not change anything unless people work with governments to follow up and ensure they are implemented."You must set benchmarks by which to measure whether governments are living up to their word. You must speak out against stereotyping wherever it occurs. And you must shine a spotlight in to the dark corners where racism lurks, in every society," he declared. (END)