Subject: [fem-women2000 697] FWD: WCAR: Marginalisation and the NGO Forum
From: Makoto TERANAKA <teramako@jca.apc.org>
Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 19:12:57 +0900
Seq: 697
Forward to fem-women2000@jca.apc.org. ------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 01 Sep 2001 16:18:51 +0800 >From: Kathy Clarin <kathy@isiswomen.org> Subject: WCAR Update 9 from Isis International-Manila Marginalisation and the NGO Forum The United Nations NGO Forum feeding into the World Conference Against Racism brings together 7,000 delegates representing non-governmental organisations groups from around the world. Zulu warriors are mixing with native Americans, church leaders from New York are meeting Burmese refugees. It causes problems. Translation is a major one. French, Spanish and English are available in the larger workshops (although even these were absent for the opening ceremony). China and India, however, combined make up more than a fifth of the world's population, but if translation to these languages is available, it is unpublicised and scattered. Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world, but there is no translation into Bahasa Indonesia going on. The most marginalised groups, those who lack the skills, or even just the confidence, to participate and negotiate in these European languages, are those who are losing out. I sat in on a working discussion, finalising the input of indigenous women for the draft declaration. The group was small, predominantly from Australia and Northern America. There was one representative from an indigenous people's group in Asia. While an effort was made to include her points of view, time constraints and the strain of translation made it almost impossible for the Asian woman to contribute. And, according to some, the resulting documents reflect this. Dr Kua Kia Soong of a national human rights body in Malaysia commented on his experiences today. "There was a tendency to be very North-NGO-based. They would talk about the legacy of colonialism and then they would take about the trans-national corporations, letting many villains, many post-colonial states today, off the hook. Not necessarily in the north, but also in the south." The question of who is setting the agenda at the NGO Forum is becoming increasingly urgent. As the Friday deadline closes, it is apparent that even among the participants at the forum, not all voices are being heard. _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem