UN Conference Against Racism Challenges U.S.
by Veena Vasista

May 2001
Volume 38, No. 4

At the end of August, in Durban South Africa the UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance will take place. Over fifteen thousand people are expected to converge in Durban to exchange strategies, experiences and recommendations. The wide variety of issues will range from: how racism affects access to education to how racism is manifest in the forces of globalisation and the need to have reparations for the legacies of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonialism.

The Conference itself will take place from August 31 to September 7, and will be a meeting of Member States of the United Nations. From August 28 to September 1 there will be an NGO (non-governmental organization) Forum, which provides a space for representatives from civil rights, human rights and community organizations to hold their discussions and reach their conclusions.

Fifteen thousand people. What is to be expected by way of outcomes? As the Conference approaches, it is important to consider the opportunities which are before us, particularly in terms of internationalizing our domestic civil rights agenda.

To do so, we need to start briefly at the beginning. The Conference is part of a lengthy process and continuum. It is part of the United Nations Third Decade of Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination. The first two Decades also resulted in World Conferences on the issue of racism, with respective focuses on decolonization (1978) and apartheid (1983). As with other UN World Conferences on women's rights (Beijing) or the environment (Rio), the goal is global action, rooted in political leadership, with each country taking responsibility for its own backyard as well its role in the international community. Not surprisingly, just as we find that racism is a sensitive issueÑat times "taboo"Ñhere in the United States, globally it is equally difficult to raise.

Preparation for the Conference began a number of years ago, with the objectives set by the UN in 1997. A global, inter-governmental Preparatory Committee with the UN has been working to set the agenda and discuss the language of the final documents of the Conference: a Declaration and a Program of Action to challenge racism, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance.

Working with the UN, regions (Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia) have had both civil society and inter-governmental meetings to put forward recommendations for the outcomes of the Conference, while the UN has also coordinated numerous meetings on specific thematic issues, such as race and poverty. These preparations have already proven fruitful, to some degree, with outcomes which include Roma/Gypsy communities having raised the profile of their experiences of racism in Europe; the plight of Afro-descendants in Latin America being recognized for the first time in a multi-lateral document; and increased attention being given to how racism impacts differently on men and women. Civil rights, human rights and community organizations have begun to establish cross-cultural and national networks, and U.S. groups in particular have had the opportunity to raise awareness about the seriousness of the situation domestically, of which little is known internationally.

When they get to Durban, representatives from these organizations/groups will continue to network, to engage with each other and hopefully strengthen their own work in the process. What about the governments? Just as non-governmental organizations have differences in opinion, perspective and priorities, on many points the governments do not have consensus. Some governments, for example, have expressed dismay over any references in the conference agenda to issues relating to Israel/Palestine, while proposals for reparations have created a stir, particularly among so-called Northern governments.

The Conference is having to find a balance between tackling issues of racism in terms of global North/South relations and also laying the foundation to strengthen national domestic struggles to challenge racism in all countriesÑnorth and south. Even the basic premise of the Conference is considered by some controversial: all countries have racism within them. As the definition of racism is broadened beyond the simple "black-white" paradigm, governments throughout the world are being forced to look in their own backyards and reframe their situations.

Backyards. What is the potential impact of the Conference on our backyard, here in the U.S.? Sadly, the new administration appears to be wanting to shift primary responsibility from the White House Inter-Agency Task Force on the World Conference to the State DepartmentÑturning the Conference into a foreign policy issue. This is despite recent events (e.g. the Presidential election, the Cincinnati shooting, well documented claims of racial disparities in the death penalty) which demonstrate that in adhering to the slogan of the Conference, we still have a long way to go: "United to Combat Racism: Equality, Justice, Dignity."

Key domestic issues for U.S. civil rights, human rights, and community groups include racial bias in the criminal justice system; racial disparities in access to education and health care; and the link between race and poverty. Yet, the question remains for many, what can the international experience add to our domestic situation? In terms of the Conference, the answer is in part that while the details of how racism is manifest will differ from country to country, a key principle underlies the range of experiences: racism is a violation of internationally agreed fundamental human rights and freedoms. In this context, our experiences of racism in the U.S. should be held up to international scrutiny through the lense of agreed standards.

As the U.S. government has itself asserted at the United Nations, "no country should consider itself beyond review." These standards provide useful tools not only for making a critique, but also for finding a way forward. One example is the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which is considered to be the only international legal instrument specifically addressing comprehensive issues of racial discrimination. What is not widely known is that the U.S. ratified this treaty in 1994, and is therefore obliged to comply with its obligations.

Thus, this World Conference must be seen to have domestic resonance. It is more than a meeting taking place out there, over in South Africa. In the spirit of the Conference, public bodies and civil society across the U.S. should be working together, and with the use of international human rights standards, to assess how far we have come, and what remains to be done.

The numerous preparatory meetings for the Conference repeatedly point to the need for governments to commit to reforming public institutions; to implementing stronger systems of scrutiny to monitor policies and laws for racially discriminatory effects; to creating the necessary infrastructures to hold public bodies and officials accountable for their actions; to protecting people from racism and racial discrimination, and to implementing policies which promote equality and justice.

Accountability, transparency, equality, justice - these are key principles for the Conference, for challenging racism, and within international human rights standards. They are also at the root of a fair and just democratic society. We preach them abroad all the time; now what about putting them into practice at home?

Veena Vasista is with the U.S. Racial Discrimination Program of the International Human Rights Law Group in Washington D.C.