Durban Review Summary: June 4, 2008
Durban Review Summary
June 4, 2008
Hope in the fight against racism
June 3, Swissinfo
Swissinfo reports on the status of the Durban Review Conference, noting the importance of Geneva as host. According to the The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism, a French NGO, “This is the first good news coming from the preparatory committee that was established in August 2007 under the presidency of Libya.”
NGO Monitor’s Durban Review Webpage has additional information on Geneva as host city.
The article also reports on an unofficial document released by the UN, which includes an inventory of issues to be addressed by Review Conference. Although other disagree with its merit, Doudou Diène, UN Special Rapporter on racism said that “The choice reflects the will of the majority, both North and South,” despite the inclusion of new themes such as racial profiling in the fight against terror.
Despite the notorious behavior of various NGOs during the 2001 Durban Conference, Diène argues that, “it is integrating them into the process of reviewing the Durban summit that we will avoid the disruptions that occurred in Durban.” It is still unknown whether the Review Conference will include an NGO Forum. Swissinfo reports that “an expert familiar with the Geneva file suggests a more prosaic: the limited budget for this conference will leave little room for an NGO forum.”
