Successful 1995 World Congress on Women in Beijing HailedThe ongoing World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) should be molded on the fourth World Congress on Women held in Beijing in 1995, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said Sunday in Durban.Addressing the WCAR at the International Convention Center here, Robinson said: "In the lead up to Durban, I often used the example of the Beijing conference of 1995 as a marker for what I hoped the WCAR would be. Beijing sent a message to the world that women's rights were human rights." The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action recognize that many women face additional barriers to the enjoyment of their human rights because of such factors as their race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability or because they are indigenous people, migrants, displaced women or refugees, she said. In the same way, "if Durban can reassure those who have been injured and made invisible that their rights are central to all human rights, then we will have made an important step forward in a global dialogue we need to have at the start of a new century," Robinson said. She said Durban has provided an opportunity to look more deeply at the multiple forms of discrimination that Beijing conference highlighted and to take new actions against these evils. The draft declaration of the WCAR being discussed here will recognize the need to integrate a gender perspective into relevant policies, strategies and programs of action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, she added. According to the high commissioner, the draft program of action will include recommendations such as calling on states to adopt public policies and develop programs in consultation with indigenous women and girls, with an aim to promote their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. |
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