The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, has said governments must be pinned to commitments arising from the world anti-racism conference, which ended at the weekend after nine days of bitter political rows.
Mrs Robinson, who served as secretary-general to the conference in South Africa, said her office would monitor states' follow-up actions and urged civil society and human rights bodies to put pressure on governments locally.
The conference adopted its final declaration and programme of action a day behind schedule on Saturday, after round-the-clock negotiations secured last-minute compromises on the Middle East issue and slavery. Delegates from more than 170 countries adopted texts that recognised the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state, without mention of racism, as Arab states had wanted.
It described slavery and the slave trade as a crime against humanity but fell short of the outright apology that African countries had sought.
Bitter inter-state disagreements on these contentious issues overshadowed the summit, with the Middle East issue prompting the withdrawal last Monday of the US and Israeli delegations, who rejected originally proposed anti-Israeli language they described as "hateful".
Delegates argued over contentious issues until the very end and brought the meeting to the brink of collapse on several occasions. The Middle East issue almost scuppered the conference at the eleventh hour, when an attempt by Syria, which sought to indirectly condemn Israel, was blocked by a narrow vote with many abstentions.
After the final text was adopted, numerous states including Australia and Canada immediately took strong exception to elements of the outcome on the Middle East, marking a fraught, acrimonious and low key finish to a gathering called to promote racial harmony.
Speaking to The Irish Times after the conference's conclusion on Saturday, Mrs Robinson acknowledged it had been "painful and raw".
"That tells us something. It tells us how deep this issue is, and we have to reflect on that and we have to realise the pain of those who are discriminated against every day and for those who don't tend to be discriminated against, and I would include most Irish in that, although I know there are black Irish who feel very discriminated against. But we have to truly understand and I think Durban has helped," she said.
Mrs Robinson rejected suggestions that the bitter wrangling, which continued to the final minutes, rendered the event only a qualified success.
"I actually think it's a resounding success because we did it. It depends on what you think was achievable," she said.
"We were told it wasn't achievable by pretty well everyone, and it was never achieved before, so it is really a remarkable success to achieve it and it was absolutely a team effort."
The two previous world conferences against racism in 1978 and 1983 ended amid rancour and produced documents not considered credible.
The declaration and programme of action adopted by the Durban conference are not legally binding documents, but set a global consensus on standards including the commitment to national action plans to combat racism.
"I hope some of the NGOs [non-governmental organisations] will be very critical of the declaration and programme of action," said Mrs Robinson.