June 3rd, 2008 by NGO Monitor Staff | Category: Durban Conference, UN, Durban Review Conference

Durban Review Daily Summary
June 3

Draft Durban II Declaration Breaches Europe’s Red Lines
June 1, UN Watch View from Geneva Blog

UN Watch reports on the preliminary declaration, which emerged from the 2009 DRC prepcom meetings. This inventory of issues (also known as the non paper) “singles out Israel twice, raising the specter that the Jewish state will, like in 2001, stand specially accused of racism”, according to UN Watch. In the header “Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” the draft document’s list of “Victims Identified by the Study of Experts under the Inter-Governmental Working Group” makes a special reference to the Palestinians, with Israel by implication cast as a racist perpetrator. Israel is also singled out under “contemporary forms of racism as reported by different countries”. UN Watch also reports that even though Iran’s country report was reduced from seven pages to one paragraph, its criticism of Israel was included in the “non-paper”. UN Watch concludes with asking whether Europe will stand behind the red lines it defined and withdraw if they are not respected.

Executive Director’s Blog: Durban Redux?
June 1, David Harris, American Jewish Committee

In this blog posting, AJC executive director recounts the shameful behavior, which accompanied the 2001 WCAR and expresses deep concern for the April Durban Review Conference. He writes that the selection of Geneva to host the DRC may be a positive step as “the second home of the UN, has far more experience in hosting such gatherings. Moreover, the Swiss don’t want their international reputation tarnished by a repeat of Durban, nor, it seems, does the UN secretariat, though, in the end, it will be the UN member states that make the key decisions.” He also writes that it is unclear whether there will be a parallel NGO Forum. He concludes the posting by calling attention to the Durban Diaries, written by a EUJS participant, who attended the 2001 WCAR. This recounts what occurred at the 2001 WCAR and, according to Harris, demonstrates that “those determined to prevent a repetition of the Durban saga must keep a close eye on events and not hesitate to speak out. No one should take anything for granted this time around.”

ICARE scorecards for the Durban Review Conference
June, ICARE

This ICARE website is preparing scorecards to assess the extent to which UN member states have addressed issues related to racism and discrimination since the 2001 WCAR. ICARE is asking organizations to contribute their assessments of country behavior. This website also has useful links which include human rights reports for various countries and the UN questionnaire that each country completed answering to what extent it has implemented the Durban National Action plan.