The joint statement

This statement was initially passed in a caucus meeting of the Eastern and Central Europe NGO Caucus at the NGO Forum during Durban 2001. The initial caucus on September 2nd included 36 NGOs from 19 countries though many others soon wished to join. By the end of the Durban conference on September 8, 2001, 81 NGOs from 35 countries has signed it. At 8pm the document was closed to further signatures. In the following days dozens more NGOs asked to join but were informed it was no longer possible.

Joint Statement by Eastern and Central Europe NGO Caucus and other NGOs at the NGO Forum of the World Conference Against Racism

We, WCAR NGO Forum delegates from more than 80 non-governmental organizations from 35 countries of Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, Western Europe, North America and South Asia as well as international NGOs, state that we do not support the documents allegedly adopted by the NGO Forum and come forth with a forward-looking positive proposal.

First and foremost, we declare that the process of compilation and adoption of the NGO Forum Declaration and Program of Action was neither transparent nor democratic and permeated with procedural violations. The draft documents were not submitted to the delegates in a timely manner; the rules of procedure were unclear and repeatedly changed; the discussion was heavily restricted. Finally, the delegates were not given an opportunity to vote on the draft documents in their entirety. This enables us to affirm that the documents cannot be considered adopted by the NGO Forum and are not consensus documents.

We believe that as a result of this flawed process, the contents of the documents include unacceptable concepts and language. We are particularly concerned with certain ideas included in the chapters "Globalization," "Palestinians and Palestine," "Reparations," and a number of paragraphs of the documents.

We must emphasize that the language of the chapter "Palestinians and Palestine" as well as the deliberate distortions made to the chapter "Anti-Semitism" is extremely intolerant, disrespectful and contrary to the very spirit of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

Nevertheless, despite the negative results of the NGO Forum, we strongly believe that the international NGO community should not give up but continue to work on the basis of the positive aspects of the entire preparatory process to the World Conference and the Forum itself. In particular, the following achievements represent a sound foundation for future consolidated efforts: reinforcement of the available international legal mechanisms of protection against racism and discrimination; development of national anti-discrimination legislation and institutions; creation of national plans of action; recognition of the slave-trade as a crime against humanity; acknowledgement of the scourges of colonialism; inclusion on the agenda of such issues as denial of racism; double discrimination; religious intolerance; state racism; ethnic cleansing; racism not rooted in the slave-trade; sexual orientation; migrants and internally displaced persons; indigenous peoples; and specific groups of victims such as Roma, Chechens, Tibetans, and Dalits.

We intend to immediately move on to implementation of the above achievements and call upon the international NGO community to join us in these efforts.

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PS: On top of all the troubles of the NGO Forum, at the closing ceremony, the delegates had to listen for over two hours to a speech by Fidel Castro. We are offended by the fact that one of the worst dictators in the contemporary world, particularly notorious for gross violations of human rights, was invited to address this world gathering of non-governmental organizations. Listening to Fidel speak, we only had to wonder why the organizers had failed to invite Alexander Lukashenko, Turkmenbashi, Saddam Hussein, or a representative of the Taliban regime.

The above statement is reproduced with permission from the archive of the Magenta Foundation. The original includes additional notes, such as the signatories.

Other articles on the Durban 2001 NGO Forum

For related articles, visit the Durban 2001 NGO Forum section of Durban Review or select from the articles below. Other anti-racism themes, conference details, and news are available from the Durban Review home page.