Durban III is an informal name for a high-level United Nations General Assembly meeting marking the 10th anniversary of the adoption of The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action that was held in New York City on 22 September 2011. It was mandated by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 64/148 of 18 December 2009 to commemorate the World Conference against Racism 2001 (also known as Durban I), and given additional form and visibility by a UNGA Third Committee draft resolution adopted on 24 November 2010. It followed the Durban Review Conference, the official name of the 2009 United Nations World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), also known as Durban II.
The previous Durban conferences had been criticized by Western governments for allegedly promoting rather than combating racism. Fourteen countries boycotted Durban III. They charged that the Durban process has been used to promote racism, intolerance, antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and to erode freedom of speech and Israel's right to exist. The same countries, excluding Austria, Bulgaria, France and the United Kingdom, had also previously boycotted the Durban Review Conference in 2009.
A coalition of 25 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) critical of the conference, led by UN Watch, organized a parallel human rights summit with the stated aim of drawing attention to flaws in the UN system and promoting reform. A similar counter-conference organized by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel and human rights scholar Anne Bayefsky featured scholars and public figures. Conversely, the Durban +10 Coalition, a group of NGOs which included the US Human Rights Network, National Lawyers Guild and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, expressed its unequivocal support for the DDPA and criticized countries boycotting the conference.
Program
Durban III was a one-day conference that took place in New York City on 22 September 2011. Its theme was "victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance: recognition, justice and development." Its stated goal was to build upon the agenda outlined in The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, or DDPA, described by the UN as "the international community's blueprint for action to fight racism." It consisted of a plenary session and a series of round table discussions at the level of heads of state and government.
The conference was attended by delegations from 179 countries, while 14 countries boycotted the conference. The conference was addressed by Ban Ki-Moon and others, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Simon Aban Deng, a former slave and Sudanese human rights activist living in the United States.
Countries boycotting
Durban III was boycotted by 14 countries: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany Italy, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The precise reasons varied from country to country, but included concerns that the Durban process has been used to promote racism, intolerance, antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and to erode freedom of speech and Israel's right to exist.
The countries are listed below in chronological order of their boycott declaration.
Canada
On 25 November 2010, shortly after the conference was declared, Canada announced that it would not be attending and that the country had lost faith in the United Nations' human rights process. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said: "The original Durban Conference, and its declaration, as well as the non-governmental activities associated with it, proved to be a dangerous platform for racism, including antisemitism," also stating that "Canada is clearly committed to the fight against racism, but the Durban process commemorates an agenda that actually promotes racism rather than combats it," and "Canada will not participate in this charade. We will not lend our good name to this Durban hatefest."
The boycott declaration was supported by the opposition. On 13 June 2011, Canada boycotted a General Assembly resolution setting out details for the conference.