Durban Review Conference denies participation of Tamil and Tibetan organisations
3 May 2009 11:13 pm

Durban
Review
Conference, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 20-24 April 2009, denied
the participation of four non-governmental organisations.
On 24 April, hundreds of representatives of organisations gathered for
the conference submitted the letter below to the president of the
conference, saying it is a "political discrimination".
Durban
Review
Conference, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 20-24 April 2009, denied
the participation of four non-governmental organisations.
On 24 April, hundreds of representatives of organisations gathered for
the conference submitted the letter below to the president of the
conference, saying it is a "political discrimination".

We,
the undersigned NGO participants at the Durban Review Conference deplore that
some NGOs, including Public Advocacy Initiatives for Rights and
Values
(PAIRV);
Tamil Center for Human Rights
(TCHR);
Society for Rural Education and Development
(SRED)
and Tibetan Centre for Human Rights Democracy
(TCHRD)
who had requested for accreditation to the Conference have been denied the right
to participation after the 3rd PrepCom
took a decision "not to
take
action" on their applications.

With
the Outcome Document adopted now, it is a shame that a procedural tool was used
to deny the participation of some of these NGOs. It will raise serious questions
over the validity of the increasing affirmation on the crucial role being played
by NGOs in the UN systems and its multilateral negotiations. We,
therefore, believe that the barring of these NGOs from the Review Conference is
a political discrimination, especially when it concerns Tamil and Tibetan
NGOs.

Tamil
Centre for Human Rights (TCHR)
was
one of the NGOs denied accreditation due to objection from the Government of Sri
Lanka which wanted to use the 14 days deadline rule to look at the Centre's
information when the PrepCom
had only three working days.

In
the case of Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), an
organisation which was accredited to the World Conference Against Racism
(WCAR)
in 2001, the role of some Governments to ensure the denial of their
participation, including that of China, ensured that they would be barred from
the Review Conference. While we regret that the European Union failed to seek a
vote to question PrepCom's
decision, we fully agree with the European Union statement at the
PrepCom
that the denial of accreditation against
TCHRD is "a de facto expulsion" of the NGO from the
Conference.

We
strongly believe that no legitimate NGO should be barred from major UN
conferences due to the political stand of some Governments, as the adopted
outcome document reiterates "the positive role that the exercise of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression" (Para 54).