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The Director General of Foreign Affairs, Mr Sipho Pityana, announced today in Pretoria that preparations were progressing well for the United Nations’ third World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) to be held in Durban from August 27 to September 7 2001.

Mr Pityana also announced that a South African delegation which will include some members of the National Preparatory Committee will leave for Geneva this weekend to attend the final Preparatory Committee (Prepcom) meeting in Geneva from May 21 to June 1. The meeting aims to achieve a draft declaration and the draft programme of action for the Conference in Durban.

The three-segment Conference begins at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium on August 27 2001 with the Youth Summit which will immediately be followed by the NGO Forum at the same venue on August 28 before the commencement of the inter-governmental session on August 31 at the International Convention Centre. About 12 000 delegates are expected to converge on Durban for the Conference.

The local preparations are managed by the National Preparatory Committee which is headed by Mr Pityana and is made up of government departments, civil society organisations and national institutions. These include the Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality, the National Youth Commission, the Human Sciences Research Council and the National Religious Leaders Forum, among others.

Apart from the logistical arrangements being made for Durban, various regional preparatory meetings have been held to produce regional inputs for developing a draft Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

The last Intersessional Working Group which was held on May 7 to 11 2001 completed the first reading and produced a negotiating text. The process moves to the final preparation stage where the various regions will negotiate the final text which will constitute the draft declaration and programme of action to be adopted by the Conference in Durban.

In case the Prepcom does not complete its work, the remaining issues will have to be finalised during the Conference. There are issues that dominate the scene as contentious at this stage and these include slavery and colonialism, compensation and reparations and the Middle East question.

May 18, 2001

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