Race equality

A "Magna Carta" for our times*

President Thabo Mbeki

At the end of the 20th century, South African freedom fighters defeated apartheid, a most horrendous instance of "man's inhumanity". Their defiant acts assured Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress an honourable place in the annals of civil rights and colonial freedom and liberation movements.

In this tradition, South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki will host a United Nations Conference in support of a human rights "magna carta" for victims of racism, exclusion and marginalisation.

“It can can shape and embody the spirit of the new century, based on the shared conviction that we are all members of one human family,” says Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and secretary-general of the UN Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance to be held in Durban, South Africa 31 August to 7 September 2001.

Global racism
Rapporteurs from major world regions will document the rise of discrimination within countries and international institutions, and the effects on minority and majority populations. African and Middle Eastern delegates are expected to challenge the 'Fortress Europe' policies that restrict the human rights of migrating workers, refugees and asylum seekers.

Also on the agenda are "accusations of institutionalised racism in police forces; harsh immigration and asylum policies; hate sites on the Internet and youth groups promoting intolerance and xenophobia," says Ms Robinson.

Eurocentric notions
Even globalization and claims for "caring capitalism" carry risks that can lead to exclusion and increased inequality, along racial and ethnic lines, she says. (This confirms the view of many black people who target the west's postcolonial "Eurocentric notions" and the "globalised racism" of corporations and monetary bodies as root causes of continued third world poverty and underdevelopment.)

Resolving these conflicts of interest and perspective is a major challenge for the international community. Persistent racism hinders democratic progress and threatens international peace and stability, says Ms Robinson. .

Past efforts must be augmented
But delegates will insist on concrete actions not more platitudes. (After all, the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of race is already enshrined in the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations 1945. It is bolstered by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and by decades of international efforts to achieve race equality in world economic, social and cultural affairs.)

Action priorities
Getting government leaders to implement their fine sentiments will therefore be high on the agenda of the UN Conference against Racism. Western nations and their client states will have to set about ditching their colonial legacies. The conference must address the “collective trauma” of the past in which developed countries colonised and enslaved developing ones, says Ms Robinson.

The conference will be “a kind of catharsis” to set the new century on a course based on principles of non-discrimination, tolerance, and diversity, she told journalists at a recent briefing session.

Charting freedom
In this propitious climate of international concern, President Mbeki can play a statesman's role before an audience of policy and public affairs specialists, race equality organisations, and media representatives. With his leadership the conference can broaden the stream of human rights with a Freedom Charter for the 21st century.

*Notes:
Of course, the Magna Carta is an unlikely point of reference for our times. Probably this product of the meeting between a scowling King John and his tough-minded barons at Runnymede June 15, 1215 was a masterpiece of aristocratic self-interest. Nevertheless, senior historians and political scientists agree it was a benchmark in the long march toward human freedom.