r r , - - - r . - - l Check winst delivery Al-H4iiqii by Statement FI.E. Ms. Na$at CHAIRPERSOI''{ PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR THE DURBAI{ REVIE\M CONFERENCE ' Delivered by Mr. Luvuyo L. Ndimeni DEPUTY PERIVIANBNT REPRESENTATWE OF THE RE,PUBLIC OF SOU.TH AFRICATO THE UNITED I.{ATIOI\TSOIIFICE IN GENEVA VICE.CI{AIRPERSON OF THE PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR THB DURBAI\ REVIE\M COI{FERENCE of 63rd session the GeneralAssembly Third Commiuee Item 62(a) 4 November2008 NewYork $J Mr. Chairperson, Excellencies, Distnguishcd Delegates, l,adies and Gentlemen. I havethe honour to prescntto you, on behalf'of'Ambassador Najat Al HaXaji, Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee fbr the Durban Review Colference, two reports: olle on dre first substanrrve session of't-he Preparat-ory CommiLtee(PrcpCom) 6eld liom 2l April Lo 2 May 2008 and anothcr on the seconcl substantive sessiop tfie PrepCom 6cld of Iiom 6 tol7 Ocrober,2008. Consistentwith GeneralAssemblyresoluti 6LlI49 of 19 December 2006, the on Durban ReviewConferencewill be convenedin April 2009. Followingthe adoptiol of the General Assembly resoludon which also called on the Human Rig|ts Coulcil to undertake the preparationsfor this evenf (he latter establishedthe PrepCom by its resolution 3/2 of B l)ecember 2006. The PrepCorn becamethe main body responsihrle all of the modalities fbr pertaining to the preparaLionof the Durban Review Con{'erence. The Human RightsCouncil decidedthat the PrepCom shall hold one orgaprzational and h,'rosubstantivesessions prepare for the Conference. You will recall that in the to sLatement delivered before the Tllrd Committee on 7 Novemb er 2007,it wasreported on the work done by the organizatronal sessionof the Preparatory Committee fbr dre Durba' Review Conference which took place from the 27" - 3l" August in Geneva. It wasalso reported on tJreadoption by the Prepcom of severaldecisions basedo' collsellsus. The spirit of consetrsus been guidingthe work of'1[e PrepCom. In fact, an has important achievementof'the PrepCom lies in its ability to acloptall decisionsby consensus at the organizational session and at tle LwosubsLantive scssions. The decisionsadopled a[ the organizational session include the objectives the Review of Conference.Due to their importance,I seekyour inclulgence read them ou1 to ' implementation of the Durban Declaration and fo review progressaud assess Programmeof Action by all stakeholders the nalional,regiolal and iptcrnational at levels,including assessing con[emporary manif'estatiolsof racisrn,raciai cliscruninatiou, xenophobiaand relatedintolerance,du ough an inclusiye,frarrsparelt and collaborative processand identify concretemeasuresand initiativesfor of combating and eliminating all manifestations racism, racial discrimination, : xenophobia and related intolerance in order to foster the implementalion of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action; 1 of the To assess effectiveness the existingDurban follow-up mechanismsand other relevant lJnited Nations mechanismsdealingwith the issueof racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in order to enhancethem; To promote the universal ratficadon and implementation of the International Conventron on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrirnination and proper consideration of the recornmendationsof the Comminee on the Elimination of RacialDiscrimination; To identify and share good practicesachievedin the frght againstracism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. that These objectiveswould be the basisof the assessment Member Statesand all m t t ' stakeholdersshould undertake at the national and regional level in preparation for the ReviewConference. unarrperson, Excellencies, DistrnguishedDelegates, Ladies and Gentlemen /\r of In this connection, allow me to ref'ermore concretelyto some of the achievements the session. first substantive These NGOs failed to provide inforrnalion showing their relevanceto the session. objectiveof the Durban Review Conferenceas required under ECOSOC resolution 10 q 1 . LJJL, I)ecision PC. 213allowed for the holding of a panei discussionon the objectivesof the Durban Review Conference. The panel was composed of the members of the Committee on the Elirnination of RacialDiscrimination, the SpecialRapporteur on contemporary fbrms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,dre independenteminent expertson the impiernentationof the Durban Declaratron and Programme of Action, the Charrpersonof the Intergovernmen[al Workrng Group on the effectiveimplemenlation of the Durban Declaration and Programme ofAction, the Working Group of Experts on People of Afiican Descent and the Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Comrnittee on the elaboration of cornplementaryinternational standards. The presentationsby the expertswere followed by an interactivedialogue. Decision PC. 21Aestablished datesof the Intersessional the open-ended IntergovernrnentalWorking Group; Decisiorr PC. 215Lo 2lTcotrcenred provisionalaccreditation NGOs; the of Decision PC. 2lB provided for the sLruchrre the draft outcome document of the of Durban Review Conference and stipulatesdrat the outcome document will consistof a.declaratorypart and an action-orientedpart contarningfurther actionsand initiatrves; Decision PC.2lgrelated to information strategy thc Durban ReviewConference; for Decision PC.2110was otr documentationfor the preparatoryprocessfor the Durban ReviewConference. Chairperson, Distinguished DelegaLes, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentiemen Wirile dre main objective of the Review Conferenceis to provide an opporflrnity to assess irnplemen[ationo[ the comrnitmentsuudertakenby the intcma[io1al community the at the 2001 conl'erence, role of the substan[ive the sessious to coptributeto fleshilg out is the conterltsof the outcome document while bearing in mind the suffering epdured by The engagement the preparatoryprocess in and in particularin the substantive sessions displaysa resolveo' the part of i'te'rationar conrmunitl,to work toward " .;;-r,; ;.; ;,tlte be'efit of the 'iclrms a'd huma.ity as a whole. The outcornedocumcntsol'tiie regio'al meelirtgs Brasiliaa'd Abuja, the submissio, of ol'the regionalco'tributio' IbomAsia,;rr; the contributiolrsliorn the European union and the organizatio' of rhe Islamic confererlce respectively manifestthe commitment of theseregions and blocs to t5e Re'iew Conference. The first subst'a'Live sessionachieveda milesto'e by agreeing t5e structureof t1e o' outcome document and dre establishment of the Inter-sessional open-e'ded I'tergo\/ernme'[al working Group (IS\A/G). The seco'd substantivesessiontook this process furtller by agreeing a compilaLionin oll a sirrgle documerrtof all the relevantparagraphs to fill the various chaptersof the structure of the outcome docurnent. This compilation will fonn the basisfor negotiatio's, which lie ahead.Further contributions will be also welcomed. I' this regardallow me to sharewirJryou i' a morc specilicfashion the corrte.ts of.some of tire decisions which were adopted at the secondsubstantive session. outcome document of the Durban Review Conferenceto commence; (ii) worki'g "certain document e'tifled indicativeelementsin relation to the outcome documetrt"shallconsdruLe basis discussio' a for and negotiatrons rh. fr"r"n, at sessrorl of'the Preparatory commit[ee,withoutprcjudiceto the possibility 1brother stakeholders make firrther proposals; [o (iii) the draftingof the dec]aratory and that part of ilre outcome document shall be undertakenafter the first readingof't1e five sectiotls the action-oriertted of part of the draft outcome docume't by tlie Preparatory Commiflee is completed. PC. 3/B dealt with the accrediration NGOs of tq the Durban Review Conference and its preparatory process. Decision PC.314 invited the High Commissioner to make a conrributio. to the Durban Revicw Conferencethrough a report on the implernenlationof the norre and submit proposals to eniranceits implementaLionand on the irnplernentatronof rele'ant decisio's and resolutionsof'the Ge'eral Assembly a'd the Human Righs Council. l)ecision PC. 3/9 provided for the conveningof a third substantive sessionof the Preparatory Committee in Genevafor up to 3 working days, on 15 to lZ April 2009; To establishan intersessional open-endedintergovernrnentalrvorking group with a mandate to continue and finalize Lheprocesso{'negotiationson and drafturgof the outcorne docutnent of'thc Durban lleview Conf'erenceon rhe basisof the cornpilatron of proposals resultingfrorn the work of the second substantive session of the PreparatoryCornmitteeand any further conrributrons, and to report thereorr [o the third substantrve sessionof the preparatory Committee. Tlrrough this decisiott, the PreparatoryCommittee further decided that the intcrscssional opcn-endeditttetgovernrnen[al worhing group s6all meet for a total of up to 10 working days in advanceof the third substantivesession of the preparatory Committee, including a meetingon 27 November 2008, the first session bc held to lrom 19 to 23January 2009, and the secondsession 6 to 9 on ApriJ 2009 or at any other daLeagreedby the worlung group. Geileral Assembly[o allocateadequate resources from the regularbudgerof dre United Nations to lacilitaLe partrcipationin the Reyiew Co'ference the of the relevanthuman rights treatybodies and thematrcspecialprocedures ard mechanismsof'the Human RiglrtsCouncil. -l'he nryo subs[anlive sessions provideclthe opporturrityto irnplemc.[ several t5e of dccisionsadopLed the organizalional at session and Loevaluate progressaswe move along tle roacl-map established achievethe Durban obiectn,es identrfyingkey obstaclcs to by that Itavepreventedadditional progressin the eradicaLion the of causes racism,racial of discrim'ralio', xenophobia and relatedinLolerarrce. The Preparatorlr CornrnitLee benefit frorn thc participalionof all stahc6olclcrs will irr t5e process'Horvever,the limited financialresources available tJrepreparatio's co'tinue to to those from national human rights institutionsand non-govemmental organizatiops.He'ce, it is ttnporlant to reiterate calls for financial contributions to be made to the Office of t.lreHigh Commissionerfor Humar Righrstoward the Durban ReviewColference process. be a major impedirnent. Lack of resourceshas prevented elfuctiveparticipatiorri' t5e preparatoryprocessof'represel][atrves bclongingto leastdevelopedcountriesaswell as Chairperson, DistinguishedDelegates, Excellencies, l,adies and Gentlemerr We are five months awayfi om the conveningof the Durbal Review Conference.As we continue to assess implementationof the commilments the underlaken by the international community at the 2001 conference,let us not forget that the ultimate objective is to guaranteea changein the day-to-dayhfe of each individual and group of victims in all regionsapd countriesof the world We are aculely aware drat racism and discrimination are intertwi'ed with destrcutron exclusiorl, and unequal access resources to and opporhnities, a1d sociala'd cultural stigmatizalion. As we celebratet]re 60* auniversary the UniversalDeclaratronof Huma' of Rights this year, we must also take stock of the fact that, despite our best efforts at promoting the Declaration'sfundamentalprinciplesof equalitya'd non-discrimination, racism and its a[tendantproblems continue to affect countless5uman beings in all regions of the world. As rT'e mo\/e forward with the preparatronstoward the Durban Rerriew Conf'erencelet us remain lbcused on the fight againstracial a1d othcr forms of discriminaLion they are essential the enjoymentof all human rights. as to Thank you