A UN conference on racism adopted its final declaration Saturday a day behind schedule after securing last-minute and hard-fought compromises on the Middle East and slavery.
Delegates adopted a text after eight days of tough and acrimonious talks in Durban, South Africa, that recognized the Palestinians' right to an independent state and described slavery as a crime against humanity, said AFP.
The two issues have dominated the UN World Conference Against Racism and prompted the withdrawal Monday by the United States and Israel, which rejected originally proposed anti-Israeli language that they described as "hateful".
"This is no small achievement," commented Mary Robinson, secretary general of the conference and UN high commissioner for human rights, at the final plenary session.
She added that the true success of the conference would be shown in how governments put their commitment to combat racism into practice.
"We will not let governments off the hook," Robinson told a news briefing.
She described as "exhausting" but "worth it" the efforts to reach a consensus, something she said many people had questioned would be possible.
"The past has been very present in Durban," she added, saying the declaration dealing with slavery and colonialism was "historic."
At UN headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the agreement, saying failure would have "given comfort to the worst elements in society."
The United States, which along with Israel had pulled out of the conference, criticized the final document as flawed, but said it was worthy of consideration.
"We are disappointed that the conference that had an opportunity to address the issue of racism had become politicized," State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman said, cited by AFP.
"We are confident that our withdrawal was correct and hope that the decision had some effect on a better but still-flawed result," she said.
Israel, meanwhile, welcomed the final declaration, said Haaretz newspaper, quoting sources in the foreign ministry as praising it and c.
They called it a “major success for Israel.”
The sources said that Israel had managed to achieve a complete turnaround.
They said the declaration was "one of the greatest achievements ever at an international organization."
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Haaretz that the final declaration was a "stinging defeat for the Arab League."
Britain's junior Foreign Office minister Baroness Valerie Amos said she was pleased that agreement had been reached, describing the conference as "an important opportunity for the international community to find ways of combating racism and xenophobia."
Round-the-clock negotiations between country delegations succeeded early Saturday in reaching compromise deals on how the conference should address the Arab-Israeli conflict and slavery in its final documents.
But the Middle East issue once again almost torpedoed the conference at the eleventh hour, when Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Shara sought to indirectly condemn Israel as racist.
The motion failed after a heartfelt plea from conference president Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's foreign minister.
"My appeal is all of us should be focused on not doing anything that would cause this conference to collapse at this late hour," she urged delegates.
French President Jacques Chirac congratulated the European Union for its blocking efforts over the Zionism issue, saying the EU had "stopped the conference from being diverted from its goal," according to AFP.
The text agreed by the conference on slavery dropped a call for reparations and a demand for apologies for the practice, but acknowledged "that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity and should always have been so."
The formula avoided specifically labeling historic slavery as such a crime.
It also said the conference "profoundly regrets" the suffering inflicted by slavery and notes that "some states have taken the initiative to apologize and have paid reparation where appropriate, for grave and massive violations committed."
And it said the international community recognizes the need "to develop programs for the social and economic development of these (Third World) societies and the Diaspora."
Western powers had resisted calls for an explicit apology, fearing it could open the door to lawsuits for monetary compensation.
The text on the Middle East includes recognition of the "inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent state".
It also calls for recognition of the "right to security for all states in the region, including Israel", but refrains from any explicit condemnation of the Jewish state.
The conference's documents also cover issues including indigenous peoples, Roma, women, children, globalization and a variety of minority groups – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
