1. BRIEFING BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL, FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON PREPARATIONS FOR THE WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RASICM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE (28 MARCH 2001)

2. PREVIOUS WORLD CONFERENCES ON RACISMThe first World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination was held in Geneva in 1978, at the mid-point of the first Decade on racism.The second World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, held in Geneva, 1-12 August 1983, reviewed and assessed the activities undertaken during the Decade and formulated specific measures to ensure the implementation of United Nations instruments to eliminate racism, racial discrimination and apartheid.Between 1973 and 2003, the UN designated three decades for action to combat racism and racial discrimination and to ensure support for people struggling for racial equality.

3. - The Programme of Action for the First Decade was structured around measures which should be taken to implement the United Nations instruments concerning the elimination of racism and racial discrimination and the pursuit of a worldwide education campaign.- The Programme of Action for the Second Decade emphasized recourse procedures for victims of racial discrimination. Its programme included a world public information campaign for human rights and the drafting by the Commission of Human Rights of a “model national legislation” to guide Governments in the enactment of legislation against racial discrimination.- The Programme of Action for the Third Decade, which ends in 2003, underlines the pivotal role of human rights education in securing respect for human rights. It has been marked by a broadened view of the problem of racism and

4. the realization that every society in the world is affected and hindered by discrimination.THE THIRD WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM (WCAR)The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights approached South Africa to host the World Conference. In its reply to the UN, South Africa agreed to host the World Conference “on the understanding that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will play a key role towards ensuring that adequate funds are secured for this venture.” In December 1999, the General Assembly welcomed the offer by South Africa to host the conference and appealed to all member states to contribute generously to the voluntary fund for the Conference.The Conference will be open to all UN member states, observers of regional commissions or organizations, specialized agencies, other intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, UN

5. Secretariat and representatives of UN organs and other persons invited by the UN.The World Conference will extend over a period of eight consecutive days including a high-level segment. The UN has set 31 August to 7 September 2001, as the most appropriate dates in the UN calendar. The first three days are designated for the high-level segment, while the last five days will be for senior meetings.Each of the five UN regional groups held a preparatory regional conference. Two have already been scheduled, in Strasbourg in October 2000 and in December 2000. The African regional meeting took place in Senegal in January 2001 and the Asia's in February 2001.

6. THE WORLD CONFERENCE AND SOUTH AFRICA’S ROLEA very large number of delegations and NGOs are expected to attend the conference. Given the particular significance of the question of racism for South Africa, the host country is expected to play a substantial role.Traditional UN practice confers on the host country the right to designate a chair (usually at ministerial level). South Africa’s Minister for Foreign Affairs has been designated as the Chairperson of the WCAR. Mrs Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has accordingly been nominated as the Secretary-General of the Conference. The chair will work closely with the Secretariat-General of the Conference to produce both an efficient conference and a declaration and program of action that contributes to the combating of racism.Cabinet has established an Inter-Ministerial Committee (chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs) and a National Preparatory

7. Committee (chaired by the Director-General of Foreign Affairs) to provide policy guidelines for the World Conference. The National Preparatory Committee is interdepartmental and also includes the Human Rights-, Gender-, and Youth Commissions, civil structures, and representatives from religious organizations, academia and the media. Civil society and NGOs will play an important role both during the preparatory phase and during the conference.SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RACISM (30 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER 2000)The Conference was held following a call by the State President, Mr T M Mbeki in his state of the nation address (4 February 2000) to convene a conference under the aegis of the South African Human Rights Commission.

8. South Africa’s National Conference was held to promote understanding of the nature, meaning and manifestations of racism in South African society, devise a common programme for the elimination of all forms of racism and make preparations for the United Nations 3rd World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) to be held in South Africa in August/September 2001.The Conference recommended that the South African Human Rights Commission should develop and adopt a comprehensive national action plan and strategy to combat racism. Such a plan should include, amongst other points, indicators of success, timeframes and responsibilities, and effective monitoring and evaluation systems.The Conference concluded with the South African Millennium Statement on Racism and Program of Action, which is to feed into the national preparatory process for the WCAR.

9. OTHER PREPAROTORY PROCESSES BY THE UN FOR THE WCAR(a) EXPERT AND REGIONAL PREPARATORY MEETINGS To underpin national efforts to highlight the importance of combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, the United Nations has sponsored expert and regional meetings. To date the following expert and regional preparatory meetings were held: Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia. All regions are united in their quest to eliminate racism. At the conclusion of each preparatory meeting a Declaration and Plan of Action was adopted. However each of the regions differ in the emphasis they place on key elements to adopt in the fight against racism. What determines this distinction is primarily driven by regional history and political considerations.

10. The UN secretariat has, subsequently produced a draft Declaration and Program of Action for the consideration of UN member states and to facilitate inter-governmental negotiations in Durban at the WCAR.(b) INTER-SESSIONAL MEETINGS The UN has convened inter-sessional meetings in Geneva as part of the preparatory process. At the inter-sessional meeting early last year, a number of themes and sub- themes were proposed for the consideration of delegations for the conference against racism in Durban. These are, inter alia, - Sources, courses, forms and contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance - Victims of racism

11. - Measures of prevention, protection and education aimed at the eradication of racism- Provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress (compensatory) and other measures at the national, regional and international levels- Strategies to achieve full and effective equality, including international cooperation and enhancement of the United Nations and other mechanisms in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and follow-up actionsThe final decision of these themes is subject to inter-governmental processes of negotiations. The key proposed themes for the conference are politically sensitive for a number of delegations. One such contentious area relates to the proposal to include “compensatory” amongst the themes for the conference, hence

12. the wording in the text is still bracketed.The UN members will continue to discuss these themes in preparation for the Durban conference.The UN Secretariat recently produced a draft Declaration and Plan of Action following regional preparatory conferences. It is based on the outcome documents of all regional preparatory conferences.However a number of delegations are not entirely satisfied with the outcome document from the UN. At the inter-sessional meeting, a number of delegations and regions indicated that key elements of their input for the conference document were omitted from the draft Declaration and Program of Action. They were therefore not satisfied with the outcome document.

13. At the recent Inter-Sessional meeting in Geneva, UN members considered various elements which, in their view, should be Included in the document. This process is still continuing. A further Inter-Sessional Open Ended Working Group meeting is scheduled to take place in Geneva from 7-11 May 2001, followed by the final Preparatory Committee (Prep Com) to be held in Geneva from 21 May - 1 June 2001. Difficult IssuesParticularly difficult issues for the conference are- Palestine/Middle East- slavery and colonialism- compensation and reparations- migration, refugees, internally displaced persons and xenophobia- the issue of gender discrimination, a trafficking in human beings, particularly women and children- indigenous people

14. - religious intolerance - Islamaphobia and ZionismSouth Africa’s RoleIn approaching the conference, a particular challenge for South Africa as the host country is to ensure that the conference is successful and that it is attended at the highest level possible by all delegations. South African would therefore need to work behind the scenes to ensure that this becomes a reality and also facilitates consensus in order that the outcome can be adhered to by all member states in implementing conference decisions.To this end, South Africa would also need to marshall all diplomatic and persuasive skills at bilateral and multilateral level to ensure that all delegations are onboard. This will also mean conducting informal bilateral meetings with key delegations to ensure that there is agreement on these very contentious issues.