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UPDATE #5
Americas PrepCom NOTE : A Registration form is attached for people planning to attend the meetings in Chile. Please complete it and e-mail it back by Thursday, 16 November
. See end of Update for more information. As you know, the preparation for the UN World Conference in the Americas Region will
include an NGO Meeting (Citizens Conference, 3-4 December) and a governmental meeting (Americas PrepCom, 5-7 December) in Santiago, Chile. I have listed below some key information that you need and a form that I
would like you to return to me by e-mail. There will be at least 100 people from US NGOs attending the meeting in Santiago and it is important that we try to be as prepared and organized as possible. Towards
that end, there will be a "mega" conference call for participants before the meeting and a briefing for US NGOs
in Santiago, most likely the late afternoon or early evening, 2 December 2000. Basic Background Information on the conference – You should visit the website www.confciudadana.cl
. This is an excellent site that has a lot of information.Registration for Citizens Conference
– You can register on-line at the main conference website. Just click on the "Participants" button. You can register under you own NGO even if you do not have ECOSOC status or special accreditation to attend the governmental meeting. You must first register your organization, and then register yourself as a participant. Once the organization is registered, that step does not have to be repeated. You may want to request an e-mail copy of your registration.
You are asked to register by 20 November.Accreditation
– As I have mentioned before, you need to have ECOSOC status or have special accreditation to the UN World Conference Against Racism to attend the Americas PrepCom (the governmental meeting). Many
organizations wanting to go to the Americas PrepCom are still waiting to hear whether they have been granted accreditation. Dr. Laurie Wiseberg, the NGO Liaison officer in Geneva, has indicated that the latest
group of requests from over 50 organizations have been sent to the Bureau and the list of those who have received accreditation should be known by 16 November. I am working with Laurie to get that list (and a
complete list of all those accredited), up on the website. Hotels – IDEAS Foundation has negotiated special rates at several hotels for the conference. You can go to www.confciudadana.cl/conferencia/en/servicios/hoteles.asp
for the list of hotels, or from the homepage, you can click on the paragraph that talks about hotels. You should probably make your reservations as soon as possible. Mega Conference Call
– It was suggested that there be a conference call to share information with as many people going to Chile as possible. The
conference call is scheduled for Tuesday, 21 November at 1:00 EST. I will send information as to the dial-in number, etc. Given the large
number of people on the call, it will be restricted to only those going to Chile, it will primarily be a briefing (with some time for questions and answers) and we will probably have each person call in and pay
for their own call.Briefing in Santiago
- The U.S. NGO Coordinating Committee has agreed to conduct a face-to-face briefing in Santiago on 2 December at one of the hotels. The exact time and location of the briefing will be shared on the conference call and via another e-mail update.
Form for US NGOs
– As I mentioned before, approximately 100 people from US NGOs plan to go to Chile. We need to provide information and coordinate somewhat to increase our effectiveness and efficiency. Many people have also asked who else will be going. We have developed this form and ask that you
complete it and e-mail it back to me (Deborah Robinson) by Thursday, 16 November
at the latest. An easy way to do that is to hit the "reply to sender" button, delete all this information so the form just appears and then fill in the form. We will put the contact information up alphabetically by organization in a text file (sorry, no time for a database) on the site
www.ngoworldconference.org
. It should be available on Monday, 20 November and then an updated on 27 November. |
