Subject: [fem-women2000 704] FWD: WCAR: ALAI.- September 4 2001. Press release from Durban
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 17:35:48 +0900
Seq: 704
---------------- Original message follows ---------------- From: Jennifer Radloff <jradloff@iafrica.com> To: wa-news@womenaction.org Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 07:28:22 +0200 Subject: [WA-News] ALAI.- September 4 2001. Press release from Durban -- ALAI.- September 4 2001. Press release from Durban THE IDEAL FORUM Nelly Jitsuya Chaos, conflicts, lack of coordination, inadequate, wrong or lack of information, as well as protests in response to these situations, seem to be elements that are present in almost every conference, in every sphere. Imagine, then, the situation that the organizers of the World NGO Forum of the World Conference Against Racism which has just ended on September 1st in Durban had to deal with. It is not only a matter of the broad range of critical, sensitive and extremely controversial issues, but also that participants themselves came from a diversity of life experiences and of struggles, as a result of the diversity of races, ethnic backgrounds, castes, gender, age, socioeconomic status, political ideologies, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, occupations, health status and other diversity they represent. Perhaps participants in this event against racism have demonstrated intolerance when facing organizational and logistic obstacles in Durban, demanding solutions to their needs instead of contributing to find solutions. In fact, the ideal conference is not what the organizers offer us, but that which we help to create. In view of this situation, the Sexual Orientation Thematic Commission and Caucus kept a vigilant eye on available information from day to day, carrying out a fluid and informed work, to their best possibilities, in order to influence the final documents of the World NGO Forum. One of the results of this coordinated effort was that all the inputs to the World NGO Declaration and Programme of Action submitted both by the Sexual Orientation Thematic Commission and Caucus were adopted by the plenary, with no votes against them. Due to the persistence of exclusion, invisibility, and flagrant violations of the human rights and fundamental freedom of people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, these two working groups demanded the explicit recognition of free sexual orientation and gender identity as a fundamental human right. In that sense, discrimination on these grounds would constitute crimes against humanity. Other issues raised by the commission and the caucus included the intersectionality of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity with other forms of discrimination and intolerance; the right to asylum of lesbian, gay, transgendered people persecuted due to their sexual orientation or gender identity; the elimination of all discriminatory laws, including those on consensual same-sex partnerships, where they exist; that the UN convene a specific conference on various forms of intolerance that includes, specifically, intolerance towards sexual diversity and gender identy, among others. The Sexual Orientation Caucus will continue meeting on a daily basis in order to influence the outcome documents that governments are drafting in the framework of the Third World Conference against Racism. Among the lobbying strategies of this caucus, we must highlight linking the various issues being raised in the conference, mainly through the Linkages Caucus, since discriminations on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity are cross-cutting grounds of discrimination or grounds aggravated by other forms of discrimination. _______________________________________________ Wa-news mailing list Wa-news@womenaction.org http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/wa-news _________________________________________________________________________ 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