RIGHTS: Conference against Racism Can be Saved, Says Robinson

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Aug 11 2001 (IPS) - Despite the quagmire of differences in drafting the final texts, the World Conference against Racism, to begin Aug 31 in South Africa, is not in danger of ending in fiasco, assured diplomats Friday.

The preparatory committee ended its two-week sessions in Geneva without achieving consensus on the most controversial points of the final declaration and programme of action for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

But many diplomats and top-level United Nations officials participating in the discussions cling to their predictions that the conference will indeed achieve positive results.

The negotiators will arrive in Durban with documents that will serve as the basis for a conference with a high potential for success, summarised Gilberto Savoia, an official from Brazil’s Foreign Relations Ministry who coordinated the talks on the programme of action.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, agreed with Savoia that “there is a huge amount of good will, there is a huge spirit of wanting to find a solution.”

The most conflictive issues continue to be compensation for slavery and colonialism – demanded by developing countries and rejected by the industrialised world – and the tensions in the Middle East.

Nevertheless, the last week saw some progress on both matters, with moves toward flexibility on all sides. “There has been considerable progress,” commented Robinson, former president of Ireland, who will serve as secretary general of the Aug 31-Sep 7 Durban conference.

The most significant change came from the United States, which agreed for the first time to take part in discussions on including the Palestinian question in the conference texts.

However, the delegates from Washington set conditions that any such references be brief and generic, without singling out any one country, and be based on the draft approved at a previous international conference. According to Savoia, this was an important step forward.

As far as compensation for past slavery and colonialism, the negotiations continue on three different proposals, presented by the African bloc, the United States and the European Union.

The African countries suggest that reparations could be channelled through support for the New African Initiative, a regional development plan drawn up last month by the continent’s heads of state.

With that in play, the African bloc achieved an incredible success, commented a Latin American diplomat who requested anonymity.

A continent that is suffering great difficulties in economic growth has been able to transform a conference on human rights into a conference on development, said the source.

Formal negotiations to finalise the drafts of the declaration and programme of action will continue Aug 31 in Durban, but until there will also be contact among diplomats and heads of state in efforts to overcome the differences of opinion that continue to weigh upon the conference.

In that terrain, the government of South Africa, as host of the eight-day event, faces a fundamental mission to ensure that the World Conference against Racism is a success, commented the Latin American official.

The change in the position of the United States, which a week ago would not accept even one word on the Israeli-Palestinian question in the conference documents, has facilitated the task of the South Africans.

It would be very difficult for the US government to boycott the Durban conference, given the prestige and leadership role of South Africa and the potential backlash by the enormous African American population in the United States, said the diplomat.