What's new:
On March 17, an alternative draft outcome document was issued in Geneva.
The text is the latest draft outcome document, a compromise 17-page text issued by Russian working group chairman Yuri Boychenko after private consultations. It omits any reference to the Middle East conflict as well as defamation of religion. Please check out AJC's Durban Countdown for more information.
On March, 5th Italy announced that it has withdrawn from preparation of the Durban Review Conference. In a press release, AJC lauded the decision of the Italian government and hopes that now more European states will withdraw from Durban II.
The U.S. administration already announced on February, 27 that it ceased its engagement in the Durban Review Conference process after determining that the process could not be "salvaged". The press release of the Department of State maintains that "the document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable." The United State will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will it participate in a conference based on it because it "would be a missed opportunity to speak clearly about the persistent problem of racism."
The most recent informal Prep Com meeting, February 16-19, was the first that the US delegation officially observed and, for the time being, the last. At that meeting negotiations on the outcome document continued. The gap between the country blocks, on the one hand, willing to fight racism, and those on the other, misusing the UN platform for an undemocratic agenda, deepened. The language of the outcome document became far worse, especially with regards to singling out Israel and including paragraphs on the "defamation of religion" which contradict the universal human right of freedom of speech.
In a press release, AJC welcomed the US decision and denounced the path the conference has chosen, in spite of the efforts of some countries (mainly European) to use this opportunity, which theoretically could be very meaningful tp create a unit against racism.
ACTION PLAN: What are we doing about this? What can we do?
1) Please check out AJC's Durban II Countdown, which is a resource for news, links, and commentary in the run-up to the Durban Review Conference.
2) An ACCESS delegation will go to Geneva to monitor and broadcast what takes place at the conference. The delegation will also take part in the Geneva Summit organized by UN Watch and 30 other human rights NGO's. This conference will tackle human rights violations the UN conference neglegted to set on its agenda.
3) The AJC/EUJS publication, Durban Diaries, is still one of the most effecitive ways of communicating the urgency of this issue. You can read it online or order hardcopies from us - we would kindly ask to support our efforts with a suggested donation of $ 10.
4) Host meetings with diplomats to talk about the importance of this issue. We’ve been having a series of meetings with Scandinavian countries, and have planned several open meetings with key European actors France and Germany in March and early April (see ajc.org/accessny). This issue is not on the radar for many – and it should be!
5) THIS is the time to focus attention on real human rights crises that we feel should be addressed at the UN Conference. In early April attention shall be drawn to the 15th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. In addition, AJC welcomed the issuing of an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court. Al-Bashir is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan. The ICC warrant is the first to be issued against a sitting head of state. READ NEWS RELEASE
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