[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16158-16159]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  SENATE RESOLUTION 151--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA, AND 
  RELATED INTOLERANCE PRESENTS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS GLOBAL 
                             DISCRIMINATION

  Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mrs. 
Clinton, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Wellstone, and Mr. Corzine) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 151

       Whereas racial discrimination, ethnic conflict, and 
     xenophobia persist in various parts of the world despite 
     continuing efforts by the international community to address 
     these problems;
       Whereas in recent years the world has witnessed campaigns 
     of ethnic cleansing;

[[Page 16159]]

       Whereas racial minorities, migrants, asylum seekers, and 
     indigenous peoples are persistent targets of intolerance and 
     violence;
       Whereas millions of human beings continue to encounter 
     discrimination solely due to their race, skin color, or 
     ethnicity;
       Whereas early action is required to prevent the growth of 
     ethnic hatred and to diffuse potential violent conflicts;
       Whereas the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, 
     Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance 
     (in this resolution referred to as ``WCAR''), to be held in 
     Durban, South Africa, from August 31 through September 7, 
     2001, aims to create a new world vision for the fight against 
     racism and other forms of intolerance in the twenty-first 
     century, urge participants to adopt anti-discrimination 
     policies and practices, and establish a mechanism for 
     monitoring future progress toward a discrimination-free 
     world;
       Whereas the WCAR will review progress made in the fight 
     against racism and consider ways to better ensure the 
     application of existing standards to combat racism;
       Whereas participants of the WCAR currently plan to discuss 
     remedies, redress, and other mechanisms to provide recourse 
     at national, regional, and international levels for victims 
     of racism, xenophobia, sexism, religious intolerance, 
     slavery, and other forms of discrimination;
       Whereas the WCAR is charged with reviewing the political, 
     historical, economic, social, cultural, and other factors 
     leading to racism and racial discrimination and formulating 
     concrete recommendations to further action-oriented national, 
     regional, and international measures to combat racism;
       Whereas some preparatory materials for the WCAR take 
     positions on current crises which, if adopted in the final 
     WCAR Declaration and Program of Action, could exacerbate 
     existing tensions, such as language which takes sides in the 
     current crisis between Israelis and Palestinians;
       Whereas the attempt by some to use the WCAR as a platform 
     to resuscitate the divisive and discredited notion equating 
     Zionism with racism, a notion that was overwhelmingly 
     rejected in 1991 by a subsequent United Nations Resolution, 
     would undermine the goals and objectives of the WCAR;
       Whereas the WCAR is expected to propose concrete 
     recommendations to ensure that the United Nations has the 
     resources to actively combat racism and racial 
     discrimination; and
       Whereas the United States encourages respect for an 
     individual's human rights and fundamental freedoms without 
     distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, 
     religion, political or other opinion, national or social 
     origin, property, birth, or other status: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) encourages all participants in the WCAR to seize this 
     singular opportunity to tackle the scourges of racism, 
     xenophobia, sexism, religious intolerance, slavery, and other 
     forms of discrimination which have divided people and wreaked 
     immeasurable suffering;
       (2) recognizes that, since racism, racial discrimination, 
     xenophobia, and other forms of intolerance exist to some 
     extent in every region and country around the world, efforts 
     to address these prejudices should occur within a global 
     framework and without reference to specific regions, 
     countries, or present-day conflicts;
       (3) exhorts the participants to utilize the WCAR to 
     mitigate, rather than aggravate, racial, ethnic, and regional 
     tensions;
       (4) urges the WCAR to focus on concrete steps that may be 
     taken to address gross human rights violations that were 
     motivated by racially and ethnically based animus and on 
     devising strategies to help eradicate such intolerance;
       (5) hopes that objectionable language concerning Israel and 
     Zionism will be removed so that the United States will be 
     able to send a delegation and participate fully in the WCAR; 
     and
       (6) commends the efforts of the Government of the Republic 
     of South Africa in hosting the WCAR.

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