DURBAN--Parliamentarians attending
the World Conference Against Racism presented
a Declaration to the plenary Tuesday that expresses
their commitment to fight against racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. They
reached a unanimous decision to adopt the declaration
at a meeting organized by the Inter-Parliamentary
Union and the South African Parliament.
The declaration acknowledges that
the Parliamentarians have a personal responsibility
to use their influence on public opinion in order to
promote the values of diversity and tolerance. It also
highlights the role that parliamentarians have in fighting
racism.
The speaker of
the National Assembly of South Africa's Parliament,
Dr. Frene Ginwala presented
the declaration to the Plenary. She said that elected
representatives are "both products and custodians
of the democratic values and processes, emphasizing
that they must set a "tone of tolerance." She
added that the world will watch to see if the parliamentarians
will take action and follow the declaration. Hence
they cannot fail.
The Secretary General
of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Anders B. Johnsson
echoed Ginwala's sentiment
by saying, "Parliaments have a key role in
supervising government action, enacting appropriate
legislation where needed and deciding on the allocation
of the national budget."
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