Please find below a very short update
on what has been happening in relation to the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance and an application procedure
for those wishing to serve on the U.S. NGO Steering Committee. At the first PrepCom for the World Conference (held in Geneva, 1-5 May 2000), non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives
established an NGO Coordination Structure that included a 50+ member Coordination Committee and a 12-member Facilitation Team. The purpose of these structures is to facilitation communication about the conference,
ensure regional participation in decision-making concerning NGO participation, assist in planning the NGO Forum and assist in regional preparatory processes for the World Conference.
All individuals chosen in Geneva
for these NGO structures were considered interim, until a process could be established in each country/sub-region to choose permanent representatives.
A six-member interim U.S. Steering Committee was also
selected in Geneva. That body has organized two national NGO Strategy/Planning meetings since the PrepCom; 17 June in Philadelphia and 21-22 July in Oakland. The five themes for the World Conference were
discussed at the Philadelphia meeting and there was initial brainstorming on coalition building, outreach, national mobilization, and fundraising. In Oakland, there was an overview of UN processes, advocacy in the
UN system, the relationship between human rights and civil rights and an overview of what happened at the PrepCom, the previous US meeting and a previous Americas Region Coordinating Committee meeting held in Puerto
Rico. The issues of race, class and globalization, the death penalty, reparations, immigration, and Indigenous Peoples were also discussed at the Oakland meeting, as well as strategies for U.S. mobilization.
The
process to select the permanent representatives to the U.S. Steering Committee was discussed at length at both the Philadelphia and Oakland meetings. We have established criteria for Steering Committee membership
and an application for those interested in serving on the U.S. Steering Committee. That is what follows.
I hope this brief update is useful. IPU is working on a newsletter that is more comprehensive
and will be sent out in September. Please forgive me if you have already received the application from another colleague.
Yours In Solidarity,
Deborah Robinson
