SHS e-News 37 / April 2009
2009-04-09 8:00 am

Organized by the United Nations, with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) serving as the Secretariat, the Review Conference will act as a catalyst in fulfilling the promises of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action agreed at the 2001 World Conference. Participants are expected to push forward initiatives and practical solutions to pave the way toward equality and justice everywhere around the world. They will review the progress and assess the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA).

UNESCO has attached great importance to the whole process from the beginning, since the Durban Conference in 2001. It has participated actively in discussion groups leading to numerous amendments to the final declaration draft, with the aim to include its vision and action, especially those related to the International Coalition of Cities against Racism and Discrimination, the Dialogue among Civilizations and Culture of Peace.

In addition to the UN Member States, UNESCO will be participating in the Review Conference together with several other UN Agencies, IGOs and NGOs.

The 2001 World Conference, held in Durban, South Africa, was a landmark event in the struggle to improve the lives of millions of human beings around the world who are victims of racial discrimination and intolerance. The Conference adopted by consensus the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), which provided an important new framework for guiding governments, non-governmental organizations and other institutions in their efforts to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

At a time when the world is experiencing unprecedented financial crises which could lead to more injustice and discrimination in many countries, it should be a high priority for every country, institution and civil society to exert its efforts for the success of the Geneva Review Conference.

See also

• Contribution of UNESCO to the Durban Review Conference [PDF]
• www.un.org/durbanreview2009

• 30 March-1 April: Seminar on Ethics Teaching: Putting Basic Bioethics Curriculum into Practice. Santa Fe, Argentina.
• 2 April: Meeting of the COMEST Members on Nanotechnology. Brussels, Belgium.
• 4 April: UNESCO Breakfast Run. Paris, France.
• 6-8 April: Assisting Bioethics Committees (ABC) Training Session on Working Methods. Conakry, Guinea.
• 14 April: Round Table on “Human Rights and memory”. Paris, France.
• 16 April: 2nd Sub-regional Experts’ Meeting on Human Rights within UNESCO’s Competence. Moscow, Russian Federation.
• 26-29 April: 10th Asian Bioethics Conference. Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
• 26-29 April: 4th UNESCO Round Table of the Asia-Pacific School of Ethics. Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

• The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights – Background, principles and application
• Migration without Borders: English and Russian (French, Spanish and Chinese versions forthcoming)
• The Conditions of Modern Return Migrants, IJMS: International Journal on Multicultural Societies, Vol.10, no. 2
• Direitos humanos no Brasil (available in Portuguese)

Related Link 1 - URL http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1396&URL;_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL;_SECTION=201.html