[hr-education] WCAR: Closing address Mary Robinson

For those who haven't seen it yet: below is the closing statement of the 
High Commissioner for Human Rights at the World Conference Against Racism. 
Next week we hope to post a few more reports from the conference 
--particularly of sessions pertaining to the role of education in combating 
racism-- that have trickled in now that all list members that participated 
in the conference have returned home.

Best wishes,

Frank Elbers
List moderator

---------------
True measure of work at Durban will be difference it makes in lives of victims,
High Commissioner for Human Rights tells closing of Anti-racism Conference

8 September 2001

Madame Chair, Distinguished Delegates,

It has been an exhausting nine days for all of us but I believe it
has been worth it. We have come a very long way. Many questioned
whether it would be possible to reach consensus but we have succeeded
and that is no small achievement.

I pay tribute to the delegates who have had to deal with a difficult
process but who have not been deterred from the goal of making a
breakthrough in Durban.

I do not claim that this Conference has solved the problems of
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The issues have been addressed, not answered. But we have a
framework. We have made a start and that is what counts. The true
measure of our work will be whether it makes a real difference in the
lives of the victims of racism and discrimination.

It is not surprising that the Middle East has played such a prominent
part during the preparations for Durban and in the discussions here.
Nobody could be unmoved by the human tragedy which continues unabated
in the region. After my visit there last November I reported my
impression of two peoples who are linked by history and geography,
but are currently separated by a wide and growing gap in their
perceptions of each other. The violence has resulted in a hardening
of positions, with little willingness on either side to understand or
accept the narrative of the other. The main conclusion I drew - that
the only path to lasting peace and stability is through peaceful
negotiation, which calls for courage and responsibility on the part
of the leadership of both sides - remains valid and is even more
urgent today.

The past has been very present in Durban. The text adopted on the
past is historic in that it sets out the issues in plain, unequivocal
language for the first time in a document of this kind, agreed to by
the international community.

The language on the past will resonate throughout the world and
especially among those who still bear the scars. That is a major
achievement of which all of us should be very proud.

I welcome the inclusion of language on the international community's
commitment to integrate developing countries into the global economy
and to resist their marginalisation. I welcome, too, the support
expressed for the New African Initiative. The New African Initiative
proclaims that African leaders are making a commitment to the African
people and the world to work together in rebuilding the continent.

While the main focus of attention has been the intensive negotiations
on text it is far from being the whole picture of Durban.

What I have seen this week is a Conference that has taken place at
different levels. For the first time, the world in all its rich
variety has gathered to discuss the range of forces that threaten
diversity. Durban has given a voice to the excluded and the
marginalised.

We heard the voices of young people: Roma children, young Latin
American people of African descent, young people who have experienced
slavery, young indigenous people. They impressed and touched us with
their accounts of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of
racism and discrimination. But they gave us hope, too, in their
determination to rise above these abuses for their own sake and for
the sake of the next generations.

Durban has put the gender dimension of racism on the map. The
linkages between gender, racism and poverty were clearly shown and
the urgent need to tackle this dimension emphasised. We learned more
about the intersection between health, stigma, racism and
discrimination in the seminar on HIV/AIDS, and about racism and
development in the panel organised by UNDP. Our understanding was
deepened by publications such as UNESCO's book of articles and
standard-setting instruments entitled "United to Combat Racism", the
report on International Migration, Racism and Xenophobia jointly
prepared by my Office, the IOM and ILO and by the gathering of
academic experts organised by UNRISD on Racism and Public Policy.

At the Voices Forum there was proof of the global nature of racism as
we listened to moving stories of discrimination from every part of
the world.

The main message I would like to leave you with is that Durban must
be a beginning and not an end. There must be follow-up. The documents
we have agreed here will be meaningless unless governments act on
them. Civil society must work as allies of governments in this task
and must ensure that the commitments entered into here are honoured.

I take heart from the new alliances I saw taking shape in Durban: the
role that parliamentarians can play was highlighted by the
Inter-Parliamentary Union; the National Human Rights Commissions sent
us a powerful expression of their determination to play their part;
the Treaty Bodies and Special Mechanisms of the Commission on Human
Rights played an active part; the vital role of the media and the
private sector in combating racism was emphasised. And I believe that
the Non-Governmental Organisations will go away with a renewed
resolve to integrate the Durban agenda into their activities. I am
relying on civil society to take up the torch from this Conference
and carry it forward.

I welcome the recommendations of this Conference in regard to
follow-up by my Office and me and look forward to the cooperation and
support of governments in implementing this.

We now have a series of concrete recommendations - for national plans
and programmes, for better treatment of victims, for tougher
anti-discrimination legislation and administrative measures, for
universal ratification and implementation of ICERD and other relevant
international treaties, for strengthening education (a most important
area), for improving the remedies and recourses available to victims,
and many more. These are where our attention should now be
concentrated. This is the work we have to do.

Madame Chair, Distinguished Delegates,

There are many people who deserve thanks and I would like to mention
some of them. I wish, first of all, to express my appreciation to the
government and the people of South Africa for the arrangements which
were made for us in Durban. The efficiency and good humour of those
we worked with over the past fortnight were such as to make our work
much easier and our stay in Durban memorable.

I thank President Mbeki for his solidarity with us during a very
difficult week for him. Our thoughts are with him today.

I would like to say a special word of thanks to you personally for
being such an excellent chair and to your colleagues who worked so
unstintingly.

Among the delegations it would be invidious to single out individuals
but I feel that I must put on record my appreciation to the Belgian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Louis Michel, who went that extra mile
for the Conference.

Tributes are rightly being paid to the regional coordinators, the
chairs of the two working groups and the facilitators on difficult
issues and I am happy to join in those. Without their tireless
contributions, this outcome would not have been possible. I wish to
pay tribute also to the many delegates who took on the task of
sorting out individual issues as they arose. This, too, was vital
work. Many delegates made substantive inputs to the debate which had
a less visible, but no less important role in ensuring this
successful outcome.

Finally, I pay tribute to all who supported the smooth running of the
Conference, the interpreters , translators, press officers and
editors and all the support staff here at the International
Conference Centre.

It has been, as I said, exhausting and I am sure that everyone will
benefit from a break. But not for too long! There is plenty of work
ahead of us.

Thank you.


Source: web site of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
http://www.unhchr.ch



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