6 September 2001
South African and European Union (EU) officials worked hard on Tuesday to salvage the United Nations' World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) after the United States and Israel walked out on Monday, according to news reports. The pair walked out over efforts to condemn Israel for its "practices of racial discrimination".
AP reported on Tuesday that both countries had warned beforehand that they would quit the conference if language in a final declaration and programme of action singled Israel out for criticism. When a Norwegian compromise was rejected by Arab delegations on Monday, the close allies decided to go home, accusing Arab nations of hijacking the conference as a platform to embarrass the Jewish state, the report said.
In an effort to reach a compromise, the EU, Arab League and South Africa met until the early hours of Tuesday, said Olivier Alsteens, spokesman for Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel who represented the EU at the meeting. "We want a short, well-balanced text. Europe could not agree that the conference support only one part of the (Middle East) conflict," he was quoted as saying. Meanwhile UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday night that she regretted the US and Israeli withdrawals.
"I truly regret the decision of the United States to leave the Conference. Nevertheless, I believe that the journey we began must continue until the end of the conference with a view to achieving a successful outcome. We must persist in our endeavours. The victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance demand this of us. As the Secretary-General said a few days ago, 'If we leave here without agreement, we shall give comfort to the worst elements in every society'. All of us must continue to play our part," Robinson urged.
EU Council President Louis Michel said on Monday night that the EU had decided to stay at the conference and to accept a proposal aimed at reaching consensus. According to news reports, he said the 15 EU member states had mandated him to accept a proposal by South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma that a completely new text be drafted that could lead to consensus. "The EU has decided to remain united on the substance as well as on the format, whatever development may occur during this conference. Europe stays in Durban," he was quoted as saying.
South Africa excluded from reparations
The African bloc at the UN World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) has excluded South Africa's democratic government from a demand for reparations from former colonial powers and those who practised slavery, Sapa reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, a document drafted by the bloc called on those states which practised, benefited or enriched themselves from slavery, the slave trade - including the trans-Atlantic slave trade - and colonialism to provide reparations. It urges them to adopt "appropriate remedial and other measures in order to halt and reverse these and other consequences", but said, according to the report: "The people of South Africa suffered under apartheid and therefore the claim of reparations does not apply to the South African democratic government."
Responding to the document, South African officials said the wording covered their concerns that Pretoria would be expected to pay compensation for claims against the apartheid government for damage to neighbouring states such as Namibia and Angola. The report quoted an official saying that, for example, in terms of a UN resolution of the 1980s, apartheid South Africa owed the Angolan government US $10 billion. "There is no way we can be held accountable ...we too were victims of apartheid," the official said.
The discussion document also called for appropriate remedial measures to be extended to those states which were victims of genocide. The latter is at the insistence of Rwanda, which experienced its own genocide, and which has called for its inclusion as a "crime against humanity" along with slavery, colonialism and apartheid. In an attempt to highlight that Africa is not calling for individual monetary compensation, the document spells out that African countries are looking for "enhanced remedial development aid" based on Africa's own development plans.
The document, negotiated at a day-long meeting of African countries on Monday, also called for an explicit apology for slavery and colonialism, which along with the issue of reparations, is considered one of the conference's contentious issues. A position paper circulated by Japan, the US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia, stated: "We recognise that slavery, the slave trade and apartheid are grave historical injustices and fully acknowledge and profoundly regret the massive human suffering caused and the tragic plight of man, women and child".
On the thorny issue of colonialism, the states did not take full responsibility for its consequences, but said: "We recognise and acknowledge that the damaging effects of colonialism have contributed to and aggravated the manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance."
According to the SAPA report, Zimbabwe and Namibia announced on Monday that they would not pursue their demands for reparations for past injustices against their former colonial rulers Britain and Germany at the WCAR. Instead they would do so bilaterally, the report said. Namibia previously indicated it wishes to raise what it believes is Germany's genocide of the Herero people, while Zimbabwe wants Britain to keep to it promise to help fund land reform in terms of the 1979 Lancaster House agreement.
Robinson urges greater flexibility
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, said on Tuesday that significant progress had been made at World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) and urged delegates to be flexible and to try to find solutions to the difficult issues facing them. She was speaking at a plenary meeting at the Durban conference.
For the full statement see: http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/81BEC2394E67B11141256ABD00 4D9648?opendocument
Annan urges delegates to 'stay the course'
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is visiting the Great Lakes region, had been following developments at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban closely and expected that progress could still be made as delegates strived to harmonise their divergent views in search for consensus, his spokesman has said.
The spokesman said in a statement on Monday night that Annan was disappointed at the decision by Israel and the United States to withdraw their delegations from the conference. The statement said Annan was convinced that with good will the conference could be concluded successfully by the end of the week. "It is tough going, but he (Annan) urges all countries to stay the course. The conference cannot afford other defections," the statement said.
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