DURBAN--What is the Nongovernmental
Organization (NGO) Declaration and Programme
of Action? The voices of many victims of racism?
The product of a committee chosen from the thousands
of NGO representatives participating in the NGO
Forum? A litany of angry grievances and recommendations
for change? A source of major controversy? A
symbol of the strength of the NGO movement?
The
document is all of the above. In many ways, the document
marks a major success in documenting racism around
the world. Unlike the sterile, generic document which
will emerge from the official WCAR, the NGO document
explicitly recognizes the suffering of groups like
the Tibetans, the Kurds, and the Dalits, who will not
be named in the government declaration. The NGO document
also explicitly names many of the governments which
perpetrate racist abuses.
The NGO document addresses the special ways in
which race and gender intersect to inflict double
discrimination on women, lists countries (including
Mauritania, Sudan, Cameroon and Niger) where contemporary
forms of slavery are practiced, speaks to the problem
of anti- Muslim sentiment, eloquently sets forth
the case for reparations, speaks openly about discrimination
against sexual minorities and recognizes the scourge
of anti-semitism. The NGO document highlights the
plight of millions of refugees who flee racism
only to find intolerance and addresses the disproportionate
impact of HIV/AIDS on people of color. These are
sure to stand in sharp contrast to the government
declaration.
Human Rights Watch is proud of its own participation
in the contributions that the Dalit, Refugees,
International Criminal Justice, International NGO,
and Women's caucuses made to the NGO Declaration
and Programme of Action. Through these and many
other caucuses, people who have been marginalized
and abused by their governments have spoken clearly
and freely, some for the first time, for the world
to hear. This is indeed a major accomplishment,
if not the true purpose, of the NGO Forum and of
the NGO Declaration and Programme of Action.
While Human Rights
Watch vigorously supports the majority of the
planks in the NGO Declaration and
Programme of Action, we do not believe that international
human rights law supports the assertion that Israel
commits "acts of genocide." We have documented
and condemned a continuing pattern of human rights
abuses by the Israeli government against Palestinians
such as assassination, torture, indiscriminate
shelling, forced displacement, and the demolition
of houses. While Israeli discrimination in law
and practice against Arabs, in employment, social
benefits, and personal status, are serious human
rights violations, the revival of the term "Zionism
is racism" is offensive and regrettably detracts
from a focus on the practices themselves.
A number of problems continue to surround the
creation of the Declaration and Program of Action.
The final declaration did not emerge until four
days after the end of the NGO forum. During last
week's NGO forum, drafts were usually not available
to be read in advance of plenary sessions. On several
occasions, superseded drafts were distributed to
NGOs and the press as current and even final documents.
At the final plenary session on the document,
the International NGO (INGO) caucus, including
Human Rights Watch, proposed that a preamble be
added to the Declaration stating that the document
represented the varied voices of victims and that,
while many points represented a broad consensus,
given the diversity in the NGO community, other
provisions were subject to divergent views. The
plenary session rejected this proposal for the
preamble. The INGO caucus, in keeping with the
spirit of the proposed preamble, chose not to participate
in the voting on the NGO declaration.
To read the coverage of the WCAR, of the U.S.
withdrawal (which Human Rights Watch has strongly
criticized) and of the NGO document, one would
think that this conference was all about one issue.
But this meeting is about so much more. It is about
refugees, about health, about racism in the application
of the death penalty, about the unique ways racism
and sexism interact, about repairing the legacy
of slavery and colonialism, about the rights of
indigenous peoples.
There are only two days left. It's time to put
the focus back on the real issues.
(Reed Brody and Joel Motley are co-chairs of the
Human Rights Watch team at the WCAR.)
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