MARY ROBINSON OPENS PREPARATORY MEETING OF WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM

22 May 2001





Urges States and Civil Society to Craft
a Shared Vision for the Future



The second meeting of the Preparatory Committee of the World Conference against Racism opened in Geneva on 21 May 2001 with a call to the international community by Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Secretary-General of the World Conference, to look for common ground without losing sight of victims of discrimination. She said victims would be looking to the Durban Conference to help bring about a real change in their lives.

The High Commissioner compared the preparatory process of the World Conference, scheduled to take place in Durban, South Africa from 31 August to 7 September 2001, to the task that was faced by the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - crafting a shared vision of the future. In this context she expressed her firm belief that Durban gives the international community, at the start of the new century, the opportunity to help bring about a "world made new".

The Preparatory Committee has before it the text of various proposals regarding the Declaration and Programme of Action submitted at two sessions of the inter-sessional working group meetings held also in Geneva.

The Preparatory Committee Meeting of the World Conference is currently expected to wind up on June 1, 2001.


For further information Please contact: Teferra Shiawl, Tel. +41.22.917 9127, Fax: + 41.22. 917 90950, e-mail: tshiawlk.hchr@unog.ch or Jose Diaz, Tel.: +4122-917 9242, Fax: +4122.917.0541, e-mail: jdiaz.hchr@unog.ch



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