Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-02-Speech-2-234"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20011002.9.2-234"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"I agree with the President-in-Office and the Commissioner that the conference can be described as a qualified success. It did get a bad press – in some respects deservedly – but those who say an international conference on racism was not worth holding are wrong. For the first time in 25 years of trying, international standards were set on the human rights of those vulnerable to racial discrimination. That is something to celebrate. We have a basis on which to build in order to tackle one of the great threats to freedom, justice and security in the world, including Europe.
Admittedly, however, the conference did start badly. Firstly, there was the NGO forum. Although many of the forum sessions were very worthwhile and indeed inspiring, the NGO voice was hijacked by the proponents of reparations for slavery and those pursuing the line that Zionism is racism. These themes also dominated or sought to hijack the intergovernmental conference. There was gross anti-Semitic abuse with, for example, cartoons circulating that could have figured in Julius Streicher's publications from the 1930s. The document produced by the NGO forum was so bad that the Secretary-General, Mary Robinson, was unable to recommend it to the governments. Some NGOs, including Amnesty International, had to disassociate themselves from it. This was a great shame, because so many people had travelled to Durban with the serious intent to tell the world of real daily suffering. I particularly remember a woman talking about the problems of internal migrants in China. There were also individuals from many groups who suffer individual persecution such as Roma and Dalits, sometimes known as untouchables.
Admittedly there was a degree of cynical hypocrisy shown by some states in hiding behind the demonisation of Israel and America, including some African countries with appalling records of ethnic discrimination or human rights violations, and Arab countries unwilling to come clean about their own role in the slave trade. This lack of honesty detracted from the conference.
Opinions can differ about whether the US and Israel did the right thing in staying away. One can say that the position of Israel, at least, was impossible. But certainly the absence of the US pushed the European Union into the front line. One can ask if the EU was fully prepared for that. But, admirably led by Mr Michel, as has been said, it rose to the challenge. I have to give Mr Michel particular credit, even if he is my Liberal political colleague. He came for two days and stayed for a week. He displayed great personal commitment to ensure that the European Union spoke with one voice and a determination – even if sometimes a grim determination – to reach agreement. That success was realised.
On the Middle East the language agreed was, on the whole, balanced. I also believe personally that the language on slavery struck the right tone in speaking of it now as being a crime against humanity.
Clearly reparations were not the right means of redress to talk about. The irony of the situation would be that African Americans would seek to claim, not Africans, who were not subject to slave trading.
Finally, one of my disappointments at Durban was that with the spotlight on international diplomacy rather than domestic records, the European Union struggled to find the space to highlight its own growing and increasingly solid record in tackling racism. It is a pity that the EU as such is not represented in the UN system, so that the Commission and Parliament are only observers, although the President-in-Office did a very good job. Clearly it was a pity that the Commissioner was prevented from attending for family reasons. We have to find a way of strengthening the ability of all the European institutions to carry on taking a leading role in international human rights and anti-discrimination work."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples