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Durban Review
Conference 2009
In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 61/149,
decided to convene in 2009 a review conference on the implementation of the
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. To this end, it requested the
Human Rights Council to prepare this event, making use of the three
existing and ongoing follow-up mechanisms, to formulate a concrete plan and
to provide yearly updates and reports on this issue starting in 2007.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is acting as the Preparatory
Committee for the Durban Review Conference. The Preparatory Committee planned
to have three sessions.
The first took place in Geneva from 27 to 31 August 2007. During this
session, Governments took a number of organizational decisions, including
the provisional rules of procedure of the Durban Review Conference, sources
of funding for the Conference, accreditation of NGOs, objectives of the
Conference, the organization of regional preparatory meetings, and others.
The first substantive session of the Preparatory Committee was held from
21 April to 2 May 2008, also in Geneva. During this session the Preparatory
Committee took several important decisions concerning such things as the
accreditation of several NGOs, the dates, duration and venue of the Review
Conference, the structure of the Draft Outcome Document of the Review Conference
and the creation of an Intersessional Open-ended Intergovernmental Working
Group to review recommendations submitted by different stakeholders as
contributions to the outcome of the Review Conference.
The provisional dates for the second substantive session of the
Preparatory Committee are 6 to 17 October 2008. The Review Conference will
take place between 20 and 24 April 2009 in Geneva.
Regional meetings in preparation for the Durban Review Conference are
scheduled to take place between May and September 2008. Reports from these
activities will be submitted to the second substantive session of the
Preparatory Committee.
What are the objectives of the Review Conference?
In August 2007, during its organizational session, the Preparatory
Committee for the Conference set forth the objectives of the Durban Review
Conference as follows:
1. To review progress and assess implementation of the Durban
Declaration and Programme of Action by all stakeholders at the national,
regional and international levels, including assessing contemporary
manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, through an inclusive, transparent and collaborative process
and identify concrete measures and initiatives for combating and eliminating
all manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance in order to foster the implementation of the Durban Declaration
and Programme of Action;
2. To assess the effectiveness of the existing Durban follow-up
mechanisms and other relevant United Nations mechanisms dealing with the
issue of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
in order to enhance them;
3. To promote the universal ratification and implementation of the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination and proper consideration of the recommendations of the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination;
4. To identify and share good practices achieved in the fight against
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
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