EDITORIAL: Durban reflection
Yesterday's closing ceremony could not have been more symbolic for this
conference. A candle was to be lit that should have lit other, smaller candles
held by children. But it was too windy, and the candle was blown out a couple
of times. So, some of the children had candles that were not burning. Then the
organizing committee spoke words in which the many mistakes were mentioned
once again. Finally Fidel Castro was given the floor. For 2,5 hours he
spoke, but in the end many had already left. He had used too much rhetoric.
Looking back on the NGO Forum, probably the most striking thing was the high
unclearity on procedures and time tables that could not be met. And of course
the misery that a number of delegates went trough as they were housed in shabby
hotels or places very far away from the conference. It was difficult to get a
general overview of what was going on. It was difficult to find out what the
actual developments were. And it was difficult to find out who was responsible
for what. Several press meetings were used to explain organizational matters,
personal problems from people that interfered with the organization etc. In
between, the Palestinian and Jewish caucuses made themselves heard at every
possible occasion, overshadowing other serious issues and taking away much of
the media attention. In that respect, being very loud sometimes pays of.
On the other hand. During the Forum there were many excellent meetings and
workshops. Important progress was made on a great number of issues, and for
many this conference will inspire them for years to come. In contrast to the,
sometimes, heavy -oral- fighting in the Forum Arena was the easy way of Durban
and the Durban people. Wherever you go, you're treated friendly in a relaxed
atmosphere. People do not loose patience and are of good will. In this respect
the decision to organize an anti racism conference in South Africa was a well
choosen one.
Ralph du Long
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HAPPENINGS OF THE DAY
NGO Forum, Kingsmead stadium
The plenary on the NGO Draft and the Program of Action on 1 September, was
announced to start first at nine in the morning, then at 9:30 AM or at 10 AM.
There was a lot of confusion, people running around asking if anybody knew when
and where. Finally it became clear that the drafters had worked until 4 at
night to finish the English version and that copying had already started. A
while later the English version was spread around in four parts, A to D. It was
announced that the plenary meeting would be postponed until 5.30 PM, this to
give the translators the time to finalize the Spanish and French versions.
Walking around in the Kingsmead stadium you could see frantic meetings of
caucuses and NGOs scattered over several tents, browsing to the available
Draft parts, trying to decide if points of view and agreements on voting had
to be changed or adjusted.
In the afternoon the (Cultural) closing took place with a very long speech by
Fidel Castro and also some words from Mary Robinson. The majority of NGO
delegates went to this and were handed little Cuban flags to wave with. Only a
small number of people stayed outside, at the caucuses and info tents; many of
them did not agree with the fact that Fidel Castro, a dictator closed the NGO
Forum. Mary Robinson expressed her hope that Castro would also take into
account more the Human Rights situation in Cuba, but this did not have the
approval of the crowd.
Because Castro wouldn't stop talking, finally at 18:30 the meeting started.
Some 400 people showed up (mostly caucus representatives), the rest just went
to their hotels or to the concert with Miriam Makeba that was scheduled for the
evening. The ISC and Sangoco had brought in an independent chairman, a South
African Professor of Law, to ensure a good and unbiased process. This chairman
started the meeting on a light tone, making jokes and trying to ease the
already tense atmosphere. Unfortunately he only succeeded for a veryshort time.
The ISC explained the Procedure for the meeting. The first indication of
annoyance started when the ISC asked for a Spanish translator. It was unclear
if one was found but 15 minutes later shouting broke out from a part of the
audience, 'SPANISH!! SPANISH!!' . The Chair told them to calm down and waited
because there was a technical problem with the sound system.
When everybody had calmed down somewhat (all through the meeting there was
noise in various stages of loudness) a speaker asked for the recognition of a
Sikh caucus and demanded the right to vote. This created a lot of noise and the
chairman created a precedent by voting over this. The Sikh caucus was allowed
as an official caucus with voting rights, they were asked to go to the
Secretariat office to get the paperwork done in 15 minutes. Immediately
after this 50 or 60 people went to the corner of the tent and were
frantically trying to create new caucuses also. They had to come up with
caucus names and purposes on the spot, which led to amusing situations. Not
everybody was happy with the idea of creating a long list of new caucuses
to influence the voting process and the ISC stated that the rule was that
groups who created caucuses no longer than 2 days ago could be accepted.
This was a totally new rule for those who had been in the preparation
process. The chair asked the people if they would allow any new caucuses to
go out for the official papers and wait for them, but this was voted down
with a big majority, so finally the official part of the meeting could
begin. The chairman immediately asked for a 30-minute break to cool down
but since the purpose of that was very obvious (giving people time to get
caucus papers after all) people laughed in his face and shouted down this
proposal.
Voting over amendments and paragraphs finally started but it went slow, with
lots of confusion, shouting and screaming, insults and people breaking out in
tears. Paragraph 14 under Antisemitism of the draft was voted out, ('We are
concerned with the prevalence of antizionism and attempts to delegitimize the
State of Israel through wildly inaccurate charges of genocide, war crimes,
crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and apartheid', etc.) after which the
Jewish caucus left, shouting 'Shame! Shame!' There was a proposal for adding a
paragraph to the preamble, saying 'this document represents the voices of
all victims etc.' This one did not make it. A proposal was made to
incorporate an amendment listing10 African countries that were also guilty
of slavetrade. This created some controversy but was adopted. Overall, it
was very chaotic and sketchy. Clear is that all other paragraphs and
amendments were adopted, including 160 - 168, the so-called anti-Israel and
Anti-Zionism paragraphs.
The later it got, the more stressed and angry people became. There was some
shouting and calling names at the spokesperson of the European Caucus, who left
in tears. The meeting only came to a conclusion at 01:00. There was no final
voting over the draft itself, it was stated that since there had been voting
over all the paragraphs and amendments the draft had been adopted. So this
Draft and PoA will be handed to Mary Robinson.
Making a few phone calls in the middle of the night made it clear that a number
of caucuses already stated that although they have adopted the draft as such,
they would disclaim certain paragraphs, which incite to hatred or racism,
probably through a press release. "Totally out of control" said a caucus
spokesperson later that night and added "I'm completely disgusted by the whole
process and the lack of democracy".
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1 September
DURBAN EXHIBITION CENTER (DEC)
NGO Briefing highlights
Accreditation for the WCAR and access to the ICC will continue for NGOs
throughout the conference with access to the Durban Exhibition Center (DEC). Up
to now just over 1000 NGOs have been accredited. The total amount of passes to
the ICC remains almost 1500. To gain access to the two governmental drafting
rooms another badge is needed. These were given only to the Caucuses (40
officially recognized). Laurie Wisenberg, the NGO liaison officer, warned NGOs
who have media accredited members in their delegation. If they come with their
media card they should not show the NGO - ICC access card, as those than are
taken away from them.
A question was asked about compensation for NGOs who are both NGO and Media
accredited but only got a media pass. It was explained that a choice had
been given for either media or NGO accreditation. Once accredited as NGO,
no switch can be made to media.
The situation of yesterday, where NGO representatives had to hang around for up
to 4 hours in the little UN Liaison office - driving themselves and the people
working on their accreditation crazy - has been improved. From today on this
will be done in a small tent next to the other accreditation tent, so there
will be breathing space.
ICC
On the Governmental side, day two saw ministers and heads of state declaring
their intentions. If it wasn't so sad it would be funny that the most striking
position that all States had in common was that they spoke of racism in the
world with the exception of their own country, where, of course, no racism or
discrimination took place.
The delegation of India is working very hard to get any reference to Cast
discrimination out of the document again. At the third PrepCom they became very
angry because a paragraph mentions Cast as a source of racism. General
consensus is, they'll succeed.
Yasser Arafat took the floor for about 20 minutes. He told that ever since the
Oslo agreement, the Palestinians did everything in their power to comply with
all the items in that agreement. Even though Israeli government used whatever
little thing that wasn't complied with yet, did nothing at all themselves. He
emphasized that not only Palestinians are victims of the Zionist Israeli
government. Muslims and Catholics were suffering from the state racism because
access to their holy places was made impossible by Israel. Arafat ended his
speech by explaining that Israel's disproportionate retaliation to the throwing
of stones by Palestinians, is not aimed at killing leaders of the Intifada, but
is in fact a deliberate attempt to destroy the entire infrastructure of the
Palestinian territories.
Apart from the State speeches it was also decided, that the working method of
Geneva(have the most contentious paragraphs discussed in a smaller group) will
be adopted here. Due to the delicate nature of those negotiations nobody will
be allowed to sit in on them
Events of the day Sunday, 2 September
Today the drafters are busy with incorporating all the amendments and adopted
changes into the Final Declaration. It seems unclear if it will go to Mary
Robinson today since there are a zillion amendments to incorporate. The caucus
tents in the Kingsmead stadium will stay until Monday afternoon, to give
caucuses and NGOs the opportunity to have a meeting place. The info market with
the stands on the other side of the stadium has been closed already.
What are the caucuses doing?
-The European Caucus met today and decided that they would make a statement
in which the main points would be that the are supporting the adopted draft as
such, denounce the procedure which led to this draft, respect the right of
victims to fight for their rights, but that they cannot agree with language
that is racist or inciting hatred. The caucus will decide tomorrow.
-The Jewish caucus gave a press statement today saying that "to let wildly
inaccurate charges sit in the declaration unanswered will give free vent to
virulent antisemitism" and "10 minutes after it was voted that each victim
group would be allowed to express their victimization in their own way, a key
paragraph on antisemitism was deleted. It was mob rule, there was no
opportunity for Jewish delegates to respond, it was clearly a kangaroo court"
-The East-European caucus, which was only formed 2 days ago, is right now
writing their own declaration, denouncing the process of adoption of the
document and stating that none of the decisions taken during the Warsaw
preparatory conference found their way into the draft.
A number of NGOs are debating if they will come with their own statement. The
general mood is hung-over. Part of the Dutch NGO group is working on a petition
that denounces the anti-Semite cartoons and other comparable incidents during
the Forum, but are not supported by all Dutch NGOs. Dutch minister of
Integration and Urban Policy Roger van Boxtel also spoke out sharply against
the cartoons.
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"WE THINK THE PARTICIPATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY IS OF THE UTMOST
IMPORTANCE"
Together with the NGO Forum the exhibition area for NGOs opposite the
Kingmead stadium ended. NGOs therefore have no longer the possibility to
display and/or distribute their materials. In the DEC (Durban Exhibition
Center) posters from NGOs are removed and there is no place for publications.
As for the ICC building, it's hard enough to get in, leave alone trying to hang
posters or hand something out. The limited access combined with the
impossibility to distribute materials makes people wonder how serious the UN
and Governments really are when they emphasis the importance of Civil Society
participation in the WCAR.
The most serious obstacle for NGOs to do their work is the arrangement in the
ICC building.
There are 5 categories of participants:
1. Ministers + heads of states who are constantly surrounded by security
people to keep everyone on shouting distance.
2. Civil servants + other state officials
3. Media
4. NGOs with some access to the ICC building
5.NGOs with access to the DEC
Access to the ICC building doesn't really give you an opportunity to lobby as
all the governmental delegation have a separate entrance which brings them to
the ground floor of the Assembly Hall. In one corner of the upper part of the
Assembly Hall, separated by gates and way out of reach of the governmental
delegates is where the NGOs can sit to follow the proceedings, the rest of the
seats are reserved for the media, who have practically unlimited access
everywhere. Including to a decent amount of computers in the media center in
the DEC. The media center in the DEC can only be entered with a press
accreditation, as NGO you're not even allowed to bring a press release or
statement in.
The set up in the ICC is such that, if you want to talk to someone in a
governmental delegation you just have to stand in the corridor waiting on the
off chance that the person you want to talk to walks out of the room. And
finally it's very nice to follow the proceedings in the ICC building on the big
screen in the DEC, but only if you speak all the languages, since no
translation is provided. Again most NGOs have serious doubts about the true
will to have them play an (important) part in this conference.
Suzette Bronkhorst
Quote of the day:
"This is the woman who told me we are acting like six year olds. Off the
record, I agree"
Greets from the I CARE News Team Durban
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