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The UN World Conference Against Racism: A Racist Anti-Racism Conference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2017

Anne Bayefsky
Anne Bayefsky*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Type
Meeting Report
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 96 , 2002 , pp. 65 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2002

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References

1 Comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, UN Doc. A/RES/56/266, March 27, 2002.

2 Lantos, Tom, The Durban Debacle: An Insider’s View of the World Racism Conference at Durban, 26 Fletcher F. World Aff. 31, 32 (2002)Google Scholar; James Jonah, November speech at the fall 2001 seminar series of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (on file with author).

3 First Session of the Preparatory Conference, 1-5 May, 2000; Second Session of the Preparatory Conference, 12 May-1 June, 2000; Third Session of the Preparatory Conference, 30 July-10 August, 2000.

4 Regional Meetings: Council of Europe, Oct. 11-13, 2000 (Strasbourg, France); Regional Conference of the Americas, Dec. 5-7, 2000 (Santiago, Chile); African Regional Meeting Jan. 22-24, 2001 (Dakar, Senegal); Asian Regional Meeting, Feb. 19-21, 2001 (Tehran, Iran). Other Geneva meetings: sessional open-ended working group, Mar. 24-26, 1999; Informal Consultations, Jan. 15-16, 2001; Inter-sessional open-ended working group, Mar. 6-9, 2001; informal working group, May 7-11, 2001.

5 The language of the draft declaration going into Durban clearly illustrates the appropriation of the anti-racism agenda. Square brackets (which indicate language that was still under discussion and negotiation after the final preparatory conference, to be taken up in Durban) were placed around the words “holocausts/Holocaust” in paras. 32 and 36 of the Draft Declaration (UN Doc. A/CONF.189/4, August 20, 2001), and para. 96 of the Draft Programme of Action (UN Doc. A/CONF.189/5, August 20, 2001). “Holocausts” was put into the plural in para. 122 of the Draft Declaration. “Anti-Semitism” was put into square brackets in paras. 67 and 68 of the Draft Declaration, and paras. 150, 158, and 226 of the Draft Programme of Action. “Zionist practices against semitism” or the “racist practices of Zionism” was subject to ongoing discussion in paras. 67 and 68 of the Draft Declaration and paras. 150, 258, and 173 of the Draft Programme of Action. “. . . [Occupation of Jerusalem with Israel, together with all its racist practices” was subject to ongoing discussion in para. 221 of Draft Programme of Action. See also paras. 33 and 124 of the Draft Declaration, and paras. 3, 179, 198, and 199 of the Programme of Action.

6 For example, pressure to name specific states was successfully resisted in the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 and the Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995.

7 UN Doc. HR/WCAR/01 /1, Statement by High Commissioner for Human Rights Preparatory Committee for World Conference Against Racism, Aug. 9, 2001, available at <http://www.unhchr.ch>. She made no mention of the context of successive wars over five decades launched by neighboring states, or the right of self-defense.

8 Id.

9 The NGO Forum ran from Aug. 28-Sept. 1, 2001.

10 For example, literature of the Arab Lawyers Union, printed in English and Arabic by “Waleed for Modern Printing, Fax: 5745006, Tel: 5772193.”

11 Naidu, Buddy, Activist Admits Hitler Handbill Was His Idea, Sunday Times, Sept. 9, 2001 Google Scholar.

12 Wednesday, August 29, 2001. It was sanctioned only weeks before the conference despite considerable opposition.

13 Peleg Reshef, chairperson, World Union of Jewish Students.

14 Thursday, August 30, 2001. See Reuters, Palestinians Disrupt Jewish Meeting in South Africa, Aug. 30, 2001, available at <http://www.nytimes.com/reuters>.

15 Tuesday, August 28, 2001.

16 “Hate Speech at the World Conference Against Racism,” produced by UN Watch, Geneva.

17 WCAR NGO Forum Declaration, available at <http://www.racism.org.za/index.html>. It stated in part:

160. ... we declare and call for an immediate end to the Israeli systematic perpetration of racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing. . . and state terrorism against the Palestinian people, recognizing that all of these methods are designed to ensure the continuation of an exclusively Jewish state with a Jewish majority.. . .

162. We declare Israel as a racist, apartheid state in which Israels brand [sic] of apartheid as a crime against humanity has been characterized by separation and segregation, dispossession, restricted land access, denationalization, “bantustanization” and inhumane acts.

418. Call upon the United Nations to ensure the... the right of return for refugees ... Also call for the reinstitution of UN resolution 3379 determining the practices of Zionism as racist practices which propagate the racial domination of one group over another through the implementation of all measures designed to drive out other indigenous groups .. . and through the application of discriminatory laws of return and citizenship, to obliterate their national identity and to maintain the exclusive nature of the State of Israel as ajewish state to the exclusion of all other groups. Also call for the repeal of all discriminatory laws within the state of Israel, including those of return and citizenship, which are part of the institutionalized racism and Apartheid regime in Israel.

424. Call upon the international community to impose a policy of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state as in the case of South Africa which means the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel. Call upon the Government of South Africa to take the lead in this policy of isolation, bearing in mind its own historical success in countering the undermining policy of constructive engagement with its own past Apartheid regime.

See also paras. 161, 163, 164, 165, 417, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, and 425.

18 The paragraph articulating the voices of Jewish victims of racism stated:

We are concerned with the prevalence of anti-Zionism and attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel through wildly inaccurate charges of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, as a virulent contemporary form of anti-Semitism leading to firebombing of synagogues, armed assaults against jews, incitements to killing, and the murder of innocent Jews, for their support for the existence of the State of Israel, the assertion of the right to self-determination of the Jewish people and the attempts, through the State of Israel, to preserve their cultural and religious identity.

Press Release 1/9/01, Jewish Caucus Walks Out of Ngo Forum Against Racism.

19 The Eastern European Caucus reported later that their representative did vote against the deletion of the language of the Jewish Caucus, but this cannot be verified. The Eastern European Caucus participated fully in the plenary but shortly after the conclusion of the Ngo Forum took public action to distance itself from the result.

20 This account was relayed to me by Miroslav Prokeš, Coordinator, Central and Eastern Europe, United for Intercultural Action (a member of the International Steering Committee who was present).

21 On behalf of the Ingo (international nongovernmental organizations Caucus, Irene Khan, Secretary-General of Amnesty International proposed, at the final plenary, the following amendment be included in the first paragraph of the preamble to the Ngo document:

On most of the issues contained in this Declaration and Program of Action there is widespread agreement among us. The victims of racism and related intolerance have described their own realities of racism and related intolerance as they experience it. Given our diversity on some issues, we have varied views. This Declaration and Poa is an inclusive text which enables our various perspectives to be presented at the World Conference.

Ms. Khan then said,

If this proposal is accepted we see no need for a vote. However, we believe that all States should be held accountable by the international community for their human rights violations. As a consequence, the Caucus of INGOs will strongly support proposals from other caucuses to identify any State that commits violations.

The text of the Ingo proposal was agreed upon and written at an Ingo meeting on Sept. 1, 2001, and with the active involvement of such INGOs as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, represented by Irene Khan, Reed Brody, and Michael Posner, respectively.

22 By Karen Mock, co-chair, Jewish Caucus.

23 Amnesty stated: “this document is a collection of the voices of the victims. We don’t believe it was appropriate to vote.... The angry voices of the victims at this conference have been heard.... The angry voices are the failure of governments” (spokesperson: Irene Khan, secretary-general). Human Rights Watch said: “the document gives expression to all voices” (spokesperson Smita Narula, senior researcher, Asia Division; with Reed Brody, advocacy director, present). The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights stated: “the document is a multiplicity of views, backgrounds, experience from which we come. There is language in it we do not endorse, but let’s understand it [the document] for what it is” (spokesperson Michael Posner, executive director),

24 The Government Conference ran from Aug. 31-Sept. 8, 2001. It had been scheduled to finish on Sept. 7 but was held over for 18 hours.

25 “Down with the Nazi-Israeli Apartheid,” Cnab Brasil, Afro-Brazilian National Congress.

26 The T-shirts were produced by the Durban Jewish Community Centre.

27 Draft Declaration, supra note 5, at paras. 96, 110, 112, pmbl. para. 30; Draft Programme of Action at para. 226.

28 Written records of author and UN Watch monitors.

29 Lantos, supra note 1, at 47.

30 The language adopted was, “63. We are concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people under foreign occupation. We recognize the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent state and we recognize the right to security for all States in the region, including Israel, and call upon all States to support the peace process and bring it to an early conclusion.” Report of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, 31 August-8 September 2001, UN Doc. A/CONF.189/12, at para. 63.

31 The language on the right to return was, “65. We recognize the right of refugees to return voluntarily to their homes and properties in dignity and safety, and urge all States to facilitate such return.” Id. at 18, para. 65. Cf. United Nations Millenium Declaration, 18 September 2000, UN Doc. A/RES/55/2, at para. 26; Palestine-Progress Report of the UN Mediator, 11 December 1948, UN Doc. Aires/194 (III) at para. 11.

32 The following references to anti-Semitism or the Holocaust which appeared (usually in square brackets) in the draft Declaration and Programme of Action were deleted: (Programme of Action), paras. 67, 68, 96, 112, (draft Declaration), paras. 9, 67, 68, 84, 96, 158, 173, 226. They were replaced with only paras. 58, 61 in the Declaration, and para. 150 in the Programme of Action. Report of Wcar at 16-17, 53.

33 They sought to include preambular paragraph 30 in the Declaration and paragraphs 3 and 179 of the Draft Programme of Action.

11 WCAR at 112. See also Statement of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Wcar at 122-23.

35 WCAR at 154.

36 UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted Nov. 10, 1975.

37 Ambassador Gilberto Saboia of Brazil.

38 UN Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1994/64. See also Report of the Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Mar. 11, 1994, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1994/132, at paras. 662, 666-68.

39 Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the End of the Second World War, Oct. 18, 1995, UN Doc. A/RES/50/5.

40 UN Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2001/7, Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine, UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2001/7. “Condemns [preparing the path] for the ... Judaization of Jerusalem ... ”. Id. at para. 8; (adopted by a rolloll vote of 28 votes to 2, with 22 abstentions, Apr. 18, 2001).

41 This has occurred with applications for ECOSOC accreditation in the past few years, for example, from the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, and Hadassah.

42 Iranian Ambassador H.E. Mohammed Hassan Fadaifard, Feb. 1, 2002.

43 UN Doc. A/C.3/56/L.83, Feb. 8, 2002, Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, introduced by Venezuela on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China; and UN Doc. A/C.3/56/L.85, Feb. 8, 2002, Measures to combat contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, introduced by Venezuela on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China. See UN Doc. A/RES/55/84, adopted Dec. 4, 2000, pmbl. para., and UN Doc. A/C.3/56/L.83, Feb. 8, 2002, introduced by the Group of 77 and China. Cf. Third Decade to Combat Racism & Racial Discrimination and the Convening of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia & Related Intolerance, pmbl., UN Doc. A/RES/84 (2000); Measures to Combat Contemporary Forces of Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, para. 22, UN Doc. A/RES/55/83 (2000).

44 This resolution as adopted by the 56th General Assembly omitted the reference to antisemitism together with the rest of the paragraph. Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, UN Doc. A/RES/56/265 (2002).

45 See Lelyveld, Joseph, AU Suicide Bombers Are Not Alike, N.Y. Times Mag., Oct. 28, 2001, at 53 Google Scholar; Carlson, Tucker, Our Man in Islamabad, N.Y. Times Mag., Oct. 22, 2001, at 24 Google Scholar; Goodstein, Laurie, New York Cleric’s Departure from Mosque Leaves Mystery, N.Y. Times, Oct. 23, 2001, at B4 Google Scholar; MacFarquhar, Neil, U.S. Has a Long Way to Go to Bring Around Egyptians, N.Y. Times, Sept. 26, 2001, at B5 Google Scholar; McNeil, Donald G. Jr., More and More, Other Countries See the War as Solely America’s, N.Y. Times, Nov. 4, 2001, at B1 Google Scholar; Rosen, Jonathan, The Uncomfortable Question of Anti-Semitism, N.Y. Times Mag., Nov. 4, 2001, at 48 Google Scholar.

46 See, e.g., Sheik Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan, information minister of the United Arab Emirates, who said, “Israel can’t be a member of the coalition while they behave as terrorists against Palestinians.” Douglas Jehl, Worldwide Antiterror Coalition Will Be Shifting Loose and Anything but Grand, N.Y Times, Sept. 30, at B4. King Abdullah of Jordan suggested that “the bloodshed might have been avoided had there been greater progress in resolving the Arab-Israeli dispute.” Jehl, Douglas, Arab Allies Not Jumping to Join U.S. Side, N.Y. Times, Sept. 27, 2001, at B3 Google Scholar. The Foreign Ministers from six Persian Gulf states meeting in Saudi Arabia two weeks after the bombings issued a statement “arguing that any antiterror campaign should not ignore acts of terror that many Arabs say are being inflicted by Israel on innocent Palestinians.” Id.

47 Statement of H. E. Ambassador Fawzi A. Shobokshi, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oct. 2, 2001. See also Statement of M.E. Mr. Abuzed Omar Dorda, Permanent Representative of Libyan Arabjamahiriya to the UN on behalf of the Arab group, Oct. 1, 2001:”The Arab Palestinian people are victims of modern terrorism.. .. The Arab Group stresses its determination to confront any attempt to classify resistance to occupation as an act of terrorism.” “[Resistance to occupation is one of the most important obligations, not only legitimate rights, for people whose lands are occupied by the foreigners. . . .[T]he Palestinian people, the Lebanese people, and the Syrian citizens in the Syrian Golan Heights have the full right to resist the occupation of their lands.”

48 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Measures to Eliminate Terrorism (established by Gares. 51/210), UN Doc. A/AC.252/2002/CRP.1 and Add.l.

49 The Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, Apr. 22, 1998, Article 2(a).

50 See, e.g., UN Doc. S/2001/1204, Dec. 14, 2001, Report of Syria to the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, para. 4.