Durban Review Conference Outcome document adopted

The Durban Review Conference being held in Geneva, Switzerland, today adopted the outcome document by consensus and by acclamation.  It was exactly the same text as had been adopted on Friday, 17 April by the Preparatory Committee of the Conference.

The text is available on the conference website at www.un.org/durbanreview2009.

Also today, and shortly after the outcome document was adopted, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, at apress briefing, made the following remarks regarding the value of this document in the fight against racism and related discrimination:

Since the landmark anti-racism document the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action was adopted in 2001, several major challenges have impeded the full realization of the programme of action laid out in it.

I went into this in some detail in a report I submitted to the conference process in March. I am glad to say that some of the proposals in that report are reflected in the final outcome document.

Some of those challenges include increased and complex migration movements, poverty, and terrorism – as well as some of the measures used to counter terrorism.

Some of the most valuable additional elements contained in this outcome document are that.

• It reinvigorates political commitment to the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
• It highlights the increased suffering, since 2001, of many different sorts of victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and similar forms of intolerance.
• It identifies, shares and disseminates some best practices in the fight against racism.
• It unequivocally reaffirms the positive role of freedom of expression in the fight against racism, while also deploring derogatory stereotyping and stigmatization of people based on their religion or belief.
• It launches a process that will examine how the prohibition of incitement to hatred, as reflected in Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has been implemented in various parts of the world. This is a very important initiative which is designed to continue discussions on these often hotly disputed issues in a non-confrontational and non-politicized manner, whilst at the same time safeguarding the fundamental importance of freedom of expression. I hope this will help take a lot of the heat out of the current debate on these issues.

Durban is a process and not an event, or an end in itself. Following the successful adoption of the Durban Review outcome, the international community is called upon to continue the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

I hope that those who decided to stay away from this Conference will join the international community again soon in the fight against these scourges.


A full summary of the press briefing.