Roller-coaster ride of sleep deprivation ends

In her final words to the Third World conference against racism, the event's South African president, Dr Nkosazana Dlamina-Zuma…

In her final words to the Third World conference against racism, the event's South African president, Dr Nkosazana Dlamina-Zuma, compared the process to childbirth. Women know that the agony of labour is worth it as the end result will be a precious being, she told Saturday's plenary meeting.

Instead of ending on an upbeat note on Friday afternoon with jazz music and cultural activities, the conference dragged on until Saturday evening, by which time the translators were operating on borrowed time.

The nine days in Durban were a roller-coaster ride of emotions, with sleep-deprived delegates squabbling until the last minute to reach a consensus over words in the final conference documents on the Arab-Israeli conflict, slavery and colonialism. The conference was immediately heralded as a historic success by UN officials, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, who was its secretary-general.

Critics will no doubt already be lining up to take potshots at the gathering for being overshadowed by historical and current grievances which drowned out other important issues and played into the hands of governments which arrived in Durban in denial about racism in their own back yards.

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But the bitter exchanges, politicking and walkouts by the US and Israel should not be allowed to completely eclipse the fact that some 170 states united in Durban under the UN banner to denounce the evils of slavery and colonialism and commit themselves to combating racism.

Two previous UN conferences on racism, in 1978 and 1983, foundered on the Middle East issue and concluded with tepid documents which have not been viewed as credible. That Durban was not stillborn was an achievement in itself. And that it overcame hypocrisy, prejudice and hatred to reach a conclusion is indeed a step forward in the fight against racism.

The final documents have broken new ground by addressing a variety of issues that had never been raised at such a conference. The main statement condemned slavery as a "crime against humanity", and called on developed countries to provide resources to assist countries damaged by its legacy.

Delegates also expressed concern for the rights of migrants, indigenous people and Afro-Latinos and called on all states to establish commissions to protect minority rights and draw up national action plans.

The involvement of thousands of lobby groups and non-governmental organisations in Durban allowed victims of racism to voice their concerns at a global forum.

It was politics that dominated the conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Durban. And it was politics that saved it from collapse.

While walkouts were threatened right to the last minute by countries including Canada and France, in truth no other side wanted to join the US and Israel as the villains of the piece.

Neither the Arab nor the European states wanted to embarrass the conference host, South Africa, or undermine the symbolic importance of the meeting in a country which itself overcame apartheid.

The pressure to reach an international agreement inevitably led to language on the contentious issues of the Middle East, slavery and colonialism being watered down. African states' demands for apologies for slavery and colonialism were blocked by former colonial powers, which feared that such admissions would pave the way to civil compensation claims.

Arab states' calls for Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be condemned as racist would not wash with Western states.

There is no doubt that the two documents to emerge from the gathering, a declaration and plan of action, could have been strengthened if they had not been pushed to the sidelines by the two contentious issues.

There is also no doubt that the decision by many governments to send relatively low-level delegations to the event was a deliberate snub to its aims.

There were a lot of countries which, for their own parochial reasons, were not committed to the conference. They were happy to talk about racism in the abstract, but unwilling to face up to domestic realities.

India fought successfully to keep out words recognising discrimination against the low-caste Dalits, or "untouchables". States with indigenous minorities such as New Zealand and Canada ignored their pleas for self-determination.

African states didn't want to confront incidents of contemporary slavery, trafficking in women, abuse of children and genocide.

The European Union acknowledged the discrimination faced by Roma, Travellers, Gypsies and Sinti, but Europe's former colonial powers held out firmly on the issue of apologies for slavery.

The repeated delays and controversy over the Middle East and slavery meant that a number of regional issues were dropped for lack of time. These included efforts to address perceived racial discrimination in the US judicial system, especially in relation to death sentences.

As the steward of the conference, Mrs Robinson worked tirelessly to rescue it from collapse, snatching only a few hours' sleep on nights when negotiations were at their toughest. She made phone calls to EU foreign ministers one evening when the Middle East issue looked like it could prompt an EU walkout.

But for all her hands-on interventions and morale-boosting, Mrs Robinson was finally at the mercy of the delegates and their political will to overcome the two main contentious issues and keep the event afloat.

"This has been an exhausting nine days for us all, but I believe it has been worth it," she said after the final ceremony. By condemning slavery in "unequivocal language, the message from Durban will resonate through the world, especially to those who still bear the scars".