Monday, May 28
Back to the calendar
Until when ?!
That seems to be the question that is on a lot of peoples minds. Today marked the start of the second week of the PrepCom and while the NGOs finished their draft declaration today, the governments are still argueing about their draft and plan of action which gets more voluminous every day. There is talk about doing an extra week, when is not clear, either next week or in June or July or even a week before the WCAR. As this will only get clear later in the week the NGOs will have lots of problems to change tickets (if possible), extend their accomodation or find other Hotels (if possible). The day started as usual with the NGO briefing. The Latin American And Caribbean Caucus presented an open letter to be undersigned by NGOs, concerning the input that is being denied to the NGOs by the States. Here is the full text:
Until When
[?][!] (version espanol)"... we want the NGOs to be the voice of those who could not
be here, the voice of those who undergo all forms of
racism, discrimination and intolerance... " Mary Robinson
In the spirit of the call that Mrs. Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, made us, in order to achieve a wholehearted and effective participation in the preparatory process towards Durban, the Non-Governmental Organizations, which with concerted and great efforts have been able to participate in the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee,
manifest :
.
profound preoccupation on the fact that one week has passed since the beginning of the work and no substantive advance on the document of the Conference has been achieved;and denounce:
.
the unproductive form that characterized the work and the interminable delays in the treatment of substantive questions of this event until the last week , which seems to be conceived to make the Conference fail and has become an impediment for the participation of the NGOs.
We NGOs have in common a great pro-active energy that derives from the national and regional processes of our peoples and from the struggle against racism, discrimination and intolerance. We bring as our contribution a set of proposals to advance in a significant way the process towards Durban. Determined to achieve its success we demand:
.
that the Presidency and the Preparatory Committee of the World Conference fulfill the obligations derived from the objectives of the Conference, and that the necessary procedures for the streamlining of the work, in an effective and democratic way, be adopted immediately, so that the delays which took place last week be overcome and the conclusion of the Session in the foreseen date be guaranteed;.
the right for the NGOs to have the floor and procedures so that the governments listen to our voice.Geneva, 28 May 2001.
Statement in support of the Proposal of the Latin Ameircan and Caribbean Caucus made by the Non Governmental Organizations, whose signatures follow :
Up till now 70 NGOs have signed this petition. Also the International Steering Committee
has taken action on the matter of NGO involvment in the conference. More details about that tomorrow.
Laurie Wiseberg, NGO Liaison officer for the UN, is going to bat to get the accreditation procedure extended
to the end of July under the same conditions as the procedure has been up till now. The drafting committee
called upon all caucuses to send a representative to the meeting at 5 pm during which they would present
the renewed draft declaration.
In the meantime, the governmental assembly was split in two, one half working on the preamble and the draft declaration,
the other half on the draft program of action. At the start of this PrepCom, the entire document (declaration and program)
was a 109 pages long. Now, if you add up declaration and program, you come to a 145 pages! In the morning session of
the program of action group delegates were congratulating each other on the vast progress they had made going through...
3 paragraphs! By the end of the day, out of the 106 pages they still have to do, they finished two. The group that is
dealing with the declaration made better progress: they have done 3 pages out of the 39. Even if they have constant meetings
from now on up until the WCAR in Durban, it seems unlikely they will finish.
At five, the caucus reps met with the drafting committee who explained how they had put the draft together and in which way they
handled amendments and additions. Every caucus got a copy of the renewed draft. Not everybody was satisfied with the new draft
but the Drafting committee explained that they mainly had done their work as expeditious as possible, and that they had left
out the real contradictions, which will have to bve handled by the caucases and NGOs with new amendments which will have to be
send to Sangoco, attention of Major Kobese, before the 15th of June.
The Draft will be online within a few days (after some editing and spellchecking) on the Sangoco website
(http://www.racism.org.za) and here on I CARE.
At a previous meeting of representatives of all cauceses regarding the drafting process, it was decided that a committee
should be formed to work on the draft. Eight people volunteered and the following persons actually showed up to work on
the document from 8 in the morning until twelve at night on Saturday and from 8 in the morning until 1:30 at night on
Sunday: Cecil D. Corbin-Mark, Vernellia Randall, Champa Patel, Maria Miguel Sierra, Elina Stamou, assited by Arthur Diakite.
Everybody applauded them and is very greatful for their had work and commitment to the process!
At 6 pm, there was a meeting for the NGOs who participated in the European Preparatory Conference in Strasbourg. This meeting was called by the Council of Europe and organized by the Principality of Liechtenstein. A report on this meeting follows later. We ended our day at a nice reception held by the Youth Caucus, with as one of the guests Mary Robinson.
Other articles today:
Report on the Russian NGO presentation
Le racisme envers les Africains en Russie.
Quotes of the day
Indiginous Peoples Representative:
"We are accustomed to being alone, we are accustomed to
being invisible. If we have to do it alone, that is ok too, we can do it"
Anonymous
"If they don't talk you to death they bury you under a mountain of paperwork"
Anonymous
"Why don't we save the rainforest instead of doing conferences"
Anonymous
"Read my lips, this meeting is over!!!"
Anonymous
"Speak slower please I'm from the South"
"Yes I'm from the South too, from South Africa"