Regional Conference of the Americas ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES IN THE PLAN OF ACTION AGAINST RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND CORRELATED INTOLERANCES Brasilia, Brazil July 26-28, 2006 Conference web site: http://www.americascontraracismo.com.br/english/index.cfm Presentation The Regional Conference of the Americas - Advances and Challenges in the Plan of Action against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Correlated Intolerances will happen from July 26th to July 28th, 2006, in Brasília, Brazil. The conference will gather 400 participants, amongst government members, civil society and guests, to point the advances of the public politics for racial equality developed by the governments, which emphasizes the interchange of good practice, since the Pre-conference of Santiago (2000), preparing to the 3rd World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Correlated Intolerances that occurred in Durban, South Africa. After six years, the American countries come back together to evaluate the advances, share the results, discuss the problems in the implementation of the Plan of Action of Durban, trace the challenges and propose alternative ways for the accomplishment of equality. The Regional Conference of the Américas will be presided by the Minister of the Special Secretariat of Politics to Promote Racial Equality, Matilde Ribeiro, and it will count with the presences of the President of the Republic of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim. Antecedents Durban - a new way The Third World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Correlated Intolerances held in 2001 was the third world conference on racism. The two preceding ones, 1978 and 1983, were dedicated to apartheid and Zionism. The Conference evidenced that racism is a reality in all the societies and that it is a threatening for the security and stability of the countries. It is necessary to examine its historical, socioeconomic and cultural causes to face such a reality. Thence the inscription of slavery and slave traffic on the agenda of the Conference: these crimes were justified due to the victims' race. It was necessary to analyze the causes, effects and sequels of such activity, justified by the dangerous theory of the hierarchy of the human races. This theory is at the origins of some contemporary patterns of racism. The Durban Conference came out in a favorable context for raising the awareness about the link between some determined situations of inequality and structural injustice and some tragedies of the past. The great advance of the meeting was "the recognition that slavery is a crime against humanity and that it should have been considered so, a long time ago," says General Sub-Director of Human and Social Sciences of the United Nations for the Education, Science and Cultura (UNESCO), Pierre Sane. The main points of controversy are related to the requests of reparation for the slavery crimes, slavery traffic and colonization. Therein, Durban opened a breach. "It is not the end of a process, but rather, the beginning of a long negotiation. I refer to financial compensation, for I do not believe that, keeping in sight the universal values shared nowadays, other kinds of reparation such as the duty of memory and recognition of the crime would not have provoked such controversies Concretizations The last decade of the XX century was marked by intense debate about the theme of discrimination and all kinds of intolerance, mainly when reaffirming the necessity of urgent measures to intensify the fight against racism and discrimination wherever it occurs. Government, democratic agencies and representatives from the most diverse nations and the United Nations have partaken in this struggle with initiatives on various levels. Seventeen countries have created instances dedicated to the treatment of the theme. In the multilateral plan, the results of Durban Conference propitiated the establishment of three mechanisms to accompany its recommendations: an intergovernmental committee, a group of five eminent specialists and a group of work dedicates exclusively to afro-descendants. In the regional plan, we emphasize the work by the Special Representation against Racism, Discrimination and Correlated Intolerances, linked with the Commission of Human Rights of the AEO (American States Organization). The following initiatives have kept the theme of promoting racial equality in evidence within the region since the Durban Conference. 2002 Regional Seminar about the Afro-descendants in the Americas - March, in the city La Ceiba, Honduras; Regional Seminar of Specialists for the Latin America and the Caribbean about the implementation of the Program of Action, adopted in Durban - interchange of ideas for further actions - July in Mexico. 2003 Regional Workshop for the Adoption and Implementation of Affirmative Politics for Afro-descendants in Latin America and the Caribbean promoted by the UN High Commissionaire - May, in Montevideo, Uruguay. 2004 First South American Appointment of State and Multilateral Organizations for Politics to Promote Racial Equality - November, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Seminar - Goals of the Millennium in the Health Field with ethnic-racial emphasis. The event emphasized the Declaration and the Plan of Action of Durban, indicating strategies for the monitoring in the field of health from the Ministry of Health - December, in Brasília, Brazil 2005 Seminar Pueblos Indígenas y Afrodescendientes de América Latina y el Caribe - Relevância y Pertinência de la Información Sociodemográfica para Politicas y Programas (Native Peoples and Afrodescendants of Latin America and the Carribbean - Relevance and Pertinence of the Socio-demographic Information for the Politics and Programs), promoted by Cepal (Economic Commission for Latin America) - April, in Chile; Pre-conference of the Americas - a moment when the commitment to put the Regional Conference of the Americas into practice in Brazil was reaffirmed with the support of the government of Chile - from August 10th to 12th, in Santiago, Chile; Regional Workshop for the Americas on Strategies for the Inclusion of Afro-descendants in the Programs to Reduce Poverty, especially in the Objectives of Development of the Millennium - November, in Chincha, Peru. 2006 Meeting of the Consulting Group of the Afro-descendant Leaders to strength the dialogue amongst entities dedicated to the fighting against racism - March, in Panama City, Panama. 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