Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-02-Speech-2-231"
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"en.20011002.9.2-231"2
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".
Mr President, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the Durban Conference represents a major step forward in the endeavour to bring about global understanding, global political agreement on questions of racial discrimination, racism, xenophobia and intolerance. I must start by congratulating the Belgian Presidency and because, after all, they do all have names, by offering my special congratulations to the deputy prime minister, Mr Michel, who took centre stage at the Conference and managed to maintain internal cohesion between the Member States throughout and, at the same time, to shoulder the main burden of negotiations at global level.
However, we must not rest on our laurels. Recent events after 11 September have shown how easily and often how thoughtlessly racism and xenophobia can be revived. If we learned anything from Durban, it was that we must avoid stigmatising groups, nationalities, societies or religious minorities. We cannot ascribe collective crimes to collective people, but we can condemn specific political or other leaders responsible for political mistakes.
The Commission will continue to put its efforts into combating racism by cooperating with the Member States and by keeping its eye on a very ambitious agenda; that means all Member States implementing and incorporating the package against discrimination decided last year by 2003, it means implementing the special programme against discrimination, which is already under way, and it means mobilising and guaranteeing the efficient involvement in this issue of the Racism and Xenophobia Monitoring Centre in Vienna.
I should like to thank the European Parliament and the mission for their extremely important contribution to the Conference and for the important part which they played throughout the negotiations and to say that the Commission is satisfied with its contribution and its efforts to support the presidency.
I should like to explain to Parliament and to apologise for being unable to appear in person one and three days before the Conference but health problems at home made it impossible for me to travel.
The Conference was exciting and difficult, with a heavy workload. The early departure of the United States left the European Union in the position of main speaker and basically left it to shoulder the main burden of the negotiations. I think that the European Union's profile at this Conference was upgraded to a global profile, given that it managed, in a totally hostile environment, to bring important negotiations to a conclusion while maintaining cohesion between the Member States and maintaining excellent relations and cooperation with the candidate countries. Of course, we see this Conference as a success, especially if you compare it with previous attempts in 1978 and 1983. A global message was sent out and specific, globally agreed proposals were tabled.
One comment which could be made is that, throughout consultations over the eight days of the Conference, the wrong agenda prevailed. The main aim of the Conference was to find a modern definition for racism and to decide on measures to combat it at worldwide level and that would have been a huge success by helping us to deal with the problems of racism today. These two issues were way down, if not off the bottom of the agenda.
On the contrary, the issues which dominated were the Middle East and past wrongdoings. Of course, we cannot forget the past. We need a thorough knowledge of the past if we are to learn from it and avoid repeating it. However, when it poisons relations, cooperation, agreement and future progress, then it really is an enormous obstacle. A hostile climate prevailed at the Conference, both at government level and at the level of non-government organisations. And it must be said, texts appeared couched in terms of hatred which do absolutely nothing to foster reconciliation, build bridges between nations or build a bridge between the future and the past and should be avoided at all costs, especially at international conferences attended by every country in the world.
I should like to refer briefly to the question of non-governmental organisations. The European Commission has consistently supported the participation of non-governmental organisations at the Conference. We value their help in formulating and applying policy. A large sum of money, EUR 3.7 million to be precise, has been earmarked to support the United Nations and, more specifically, the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in order to help fund the participation of non-governmental organisations, especially from countries which cannot meet their expenses. We have to admit that there is some scepticism as to what their participation achieved and, I think, there was some disappointment about the final communiqué, the final declaration by the forum of non-governmental organisations which Mary Robinson refused to present because it contained inflammatory remarks.
Of course, it is important not to put all our eggs in one basket. I have to say that the main, important non-governmental organisations working on racism, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many other non-governmental organisations failed to agree and publicly fell out in an exchange of inflammatory and awkward remarks. Because, unfortunately, the forum was overpowered by very specific and special issues. I already understand that certain Member States are re-examining how funding is provided and, of course, the Commission intends to undertake a similar re-examination.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, despite the fact that numerous countries, for reasons best known to themselves, were unable to make an in-depth and positive contribution to the Durban Conference, we have to say that an agreement was reached which lays the foundations for further cooperation at global level. It sends out a clear message, as the Minister explained, about combating racism at worldwide level and, of course, every country made a commitment to national action plans, national action plans on legislation, the bases of political parties, education, employment and social and cultural life."@en1
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