Chair,
The Third World Meeting of Religions and Cultures is taking
place at a critical time. There has perhaps been no period in
the history which has so profoundly challenged the wish of decent
and honourable people to live together in peace and harmony.
Very regrettably, some of this challenge claims a religious
base, and can also be linked to a declining respect for cultural
diversity around the world. It is of special concern to the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies,
and it is a subject particularly important to all our National
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies today, for this is World
Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, a Day with the world-wide theme
"Stop Discrimination".
The International Federation's position on these issues has
been developed in the closest of consultation with other components
of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and
particularly with the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The National Societies are, of course, present in almost every
country in the world, and function as the auxiliaries to their
governments in the humanitarian field. As such, and with their
community base which draws on the participation in their work
of almost 100 million members and volunteers, the National Societies
are in a unique position to work with other partners to combat
discrimination, to promote tolerance, and to insist on respect
for cultural diversity.
This has been a key point for National Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies since the earliest days of their existence. The issue
is central to the Fundamental Principles of the International
Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, several of which are particularly
relevant to the theme of this Meeting.
The first of the seven Fundamental Principles is the principle
of Humanity. Its broad purpose is the promotion of mutual understanding,
friendship, cooperation and lasting peace among all peoples.
The second principle, the Fundamental Principle of Impartiality,
deserves quotation in full at this Meeting. "It makes no discrimination
as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political
opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals,
being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to
the most urgent cases of distress."
The Fundamental Principles, even though standing as principles
of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, have also been
consistently supported by governments. The Fundamental Principles
as we know them today were adopted by governments and National
Societies sitting together at the International Red Cross Conference
in 1965, and in 1986 they were formally incorporated in the
Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
These actions coincided with work done by governments in the
United Nations, as well as in other international organisations
and through national legislation, to work for the elimination
of all forms of racial and ethnically based discrimination.
The International Convention on the Elimination of all forms
of Racial Discrimination was adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly in 1966 and entered into force in 1969.
For a variety of reasons, no similar legally binding instrument
has yet been adopted by the UN specifically on the elimination
of religious discrimination, although it should be noted that
there have been several cases when the Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination, which receives State reports on their
implementation of that Convention, has examined instances of
discrimination which stems from religious difference.
Importantly, the Committee has also started to include references
in its reports to work done by States to promote multiculturalism
and respect for cultural diversity.
But, despite these actions, and despite the very valuable work
done in other contexts, including by UNESCO, there is no global
instrument within the United Nations system which deals thoroughly
with the issues of religious discrimination and disrespect for
cultural diversity.
It is not the business of the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies to identify with any religious
positions, but it is very much our business and that of our
National Society members to work against discrimination which
results from religious intolerance. It is also a strongly held
position of our International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
to promote full respect for cultural diversity.
It is, in our view, a matter of grave concern that despite the
international legislation on the broad issue of discrimination,
and despite the hard work of many international organisations
and NGOs, the challenges of discrimination and disrespect have
not significantly diminished. On the contrary, as paragraph
60 of the 2001 Durban Declaration shows, religious intolerance
remains a serious problem in many parts of the world. An even
more worrying trend identified by the Durban Declaration was
the emergence of increased negative stereotyping, hostile acts
and violence because of religious beliefs and ethnic or so-called
racial origin.
The same declaration recognised similar issues with respect
to the barriers faced by certain groups because of their cultural
identity. Equally, problems of xenophobia were prominent in
the minds of the drafters of the Durban Declaration, and remain
as a matter of high priority for the International Federation
and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The International Federation took part in the Durban Conference,
and was particularly pleased that States accepted an obligation
to consult broadly with civil society and the community beyond
government on measures to address these issues. Paragraph 210
of the Declaration contains a message which we see as vital
to success in this work - a call to States to involve these
groups, which include their National Societies in the partnerships
to develop legislation and program action as well as work for
its implementation.
I make this point because of the importance of understanding
the auxiliary role that National Societies play, alongside their
governments. This role, which stems from the Geneva Conventions
of 1949 themselves, involves National Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies functioning as auxiliaries to the public authorities
of their countries in the humanitarian field. It is the basis
for the acceptance by the United Nations that the International
Federation is an international organisation with full observer
rights in the UN General Assembly itself, and from that we have
earned the right to involvement in a very wide range of UN bodies.
But, more importantly, it is the basis for the right of National
Societies to maintain dialogue with their governments on matters
of humanitarian concern. Right now, there are few of more overwhelming
importance to communities than subjects related to discrimination.
The forms of discrimination which concern us most commonly,
are those which derive from xenophobia. Xenophobia itself, despite
its dictionary meaning concerning fear of foreigners, has come
to be seen in many communities as involving the rejection of
all that which is not seen as "normal" in those communities.
In other words, it frequently is expressed through religious
discrimination or through outright rejection of people seen
as culturally different.
It is also important to note that, as the Durban Declaration
shows, this trend was evident before the horrendous events in
New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, and the International
Federation's work programs combating discrimination started
well before that date. Those events have, however, contributed
to the aggravation of the isolation of some communities from
others in the countries where they live. The anxieties of many
communities about "foreigners" or people who are different have
been multiplied many times since September 2001.
Xenophobia today is a much worse problem that the world is prepared
to admit.
The International Federation is working tirelessly to meet this
challenge. Through its Secretariat and its membership in virtually
every country in the world it is mounting a Global and Local
Action to promote tolerance, to combat discrimination, and to
secure respect for cultural diversity.
This program is being actively pursued at all levels, but despite
the active interest displayed in it, it is clear that there
still too little active engagement on the part of governments
in meeting the challenge. There are many international debates
about the need to combat racism, discrimination and xenophobia,
and they usually produce strongly worded conclusions, but follow-up
is poor.
The International Federation has recognised that this is a challenge
which cannot be met just by the adoption of grand conclusions
at intergovernmental conferences. We have sought to involve
our entire membership, including at the local level, in our
action. This is why the local component in our Action is so
important to us. The grass-roots component is also important
because many local groups respond best to advice about what
works or doesn't work at the same levels in other countries,
and because of the connections it facilitates between localities
in different cultural, economic and social environments.
To make this effective, we are also seeking to build fresh partnerships
with local actors, both with indigenous actors and those which
derive their mandate from international organisations. Among
those we will be reaching to in this program are National Olympic
Committees, so it is particularly beneficial to be able to speak
about this program in Athens, the site of the 2004 Olympic Games.
The International Federation has sought to raise the levels
of commitment of governments and National Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies. An important recent mechanism for this was
a Pledge lodged at the 28th International Conference of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent, held in December 2003.
The Pledge envisages a very substantial worldwide program of
action for non-discrimination and respect for diversity. I will
not read it out, for it can be seen in full at http://www.icrc.org/Applic/p128e.nsf/va_PBA/EA514D217C6FB39F41256DEC005F240E?openDocument§ion=PBP.
I do, however, want to emphasise some points which are directly
relevant to what we are discussing at this Meeting.
- Despite all the negative things which have happened over the
years, and despite the difficulties we continually face, the
Pledge is couched in a positive direction. We speak of respect
for diversity, for example, instead of attacking disrespect.
We do not argue for the elimination of discrimination, we speak
in favour of a non-discriminatory environment. These might sound
like marginal points, but our experience at the community level
is that much more impact can be obtained by working for an objective
instead of against a practice. It is a matter of psychology,
perhaps.
- We seek to mainstream our work for diversity and non-discrimination
into all other elements of our work. Again, we find that this
demonstrates the practical value, at the community level, of
our messages. Our experience is that if people go out and simply
speak about the importance of eliminating discrimination, there
is often no practical effect until people see how a non-discriminatory
environment can improve their own lives and livelihoods.
- We encourage the sharing of experience, and a sharing which
involves the communities in the most affected areas working
together. The International Federation is the world's largest
humanitarian network, and we work hard to ensure that the network
functions locally, nationally, regionally and globally - all
at the same time. We do not believe, for example, that the North
necessarily has any lessons for the South in this or other areas:
our network works with the best available partners, which are
often others in the same region which have confronted the same
obstacles.
The Pledge builds on other commitments which are also very relevant
to the struggle against discrimination and partnerships with
other actors. One such is Resolution 9 adopted in November 2003
by the supreme body, of the International Red Cross Red Crescent
Movement, the Council of Delegates. It too is too long to read
to the Meeting, but it is available at http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList565/453B2BAD46C3D212C1256E01003B9787.
One or two special points are worth making. The Council felt
that there had been enough declaratory words spoken about the
importance of promoting respect for diversity and non-discrimination.
During the debate delegates spoke despairingly of the way Durban
had almost ended in political failure. One of the points made
was that the debate there, as so often happens with this subject,
descends into politicised statements which add no value to the
real tasks of communities where the real work must be done.
For this reason, the Council attached an annex to its resolution
providing suggestions and ideas to National Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies about what they might wish to do on the subject.
The resolution also projects a format for the sharing of knowledge
gained, and for the presentation of a position paper or guidelines
at the next Council session, due in Seoul in 2005.
A final point, which helps bring our work into a special focus,
is the importance we in the International Federation and National
Societies attach to linkages which can be found between work
for non-discrimination of any kind, and proactive support for
respect for cultural diversity.
One such, of special significance now, is the link which exists
to many other programs through the Millennium Development Goals
of the United Nations system.
The Goals are set out without any discrimination envisaged,
and flow from the principles in the Millennium Declaration which
includes, very directly, the collective responsibility of States
to uphold the principles of human dignity. Within this, the
Declaration acknowledges a duty to all the world's people, especially
the most vulnerable.
We attach this concern for the most vulnerable, whose vulnerability
is frequently magnified by discrimination based on religious,
cultural or other differences, to all our work.
Our starting point in all the work we do is that we are "driven
by needs, informed by rights". In other words, the highest priority
is always for the most vulnerable, and for addressing the root
causes of that vulnerability. That is why this Meeting has such
potential to mark out a new path in the fight for human dignity,
and we look forward to working with its outcomes, all around
the world.
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