The United Nations World Conference Against Racism

Margot Salomon - MRG's World Conference Against Racism Project Officer - suggests that despite the adverse publicity surrounding the 2001 Durban Conference, the work over the last 18 months has been positive and has made significant contribution towards addressing and combating racism.

Anyone who was engaged in the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance process at Durban will likely agree that it was mired in high politics and low blows and often reflected the worst of the inter-state system within which the international human rights regime is elaborated.

However many have failed to acknowledge the successes a process of this type can yield. The World Conference did not begin in Durban. It began over a year before at the first preparatory meeting held in Geneva in May 2000. Over the past year, grassroots movements and networks have been established or reinforced, training on international standards and mechanisms were carried out in far corners of the world and in-depth research has been undertaken and published on the plight of diverse victims of racism and racial discrimination and methods by which racism may be addressed. The World Conference, despite its obvious shortcomings, undoubtedly served as a vehicle for the exposure of some of the most egregious and neglected forms of racial discrimination. There are few people who remain unaware of the Dalits or 'untouchables' of South Asia and the global dimensions of caste discrimination affecting 250 million people worldwide. There is renewed attention to the existence of contemporary slavery in, for example, Mauritania and Sudan, and to the ongoing plight of indigenous peoples throughout the world and their collective claim to be recognized as peoples under international law. Moreover, the World Conference produced a Declaration and Programme of Action that will further anti-racism initiatives both within the UN and beyond. A blanket condemnation of this World Conference reflects a simplistic appreciation of the nature of multilateral negotiations and, more importantly, of the successes behind the scenes that a medium of this magnitude invites.

Margot Salomon - Minority Rights Group International