Background:
In December 1997, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to convene a world conference on racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance which would be held in Durban in 2001. In preparation for the World Conference Against Racism, Ireland held a national Preparatory Conference at which Ireland’s input into the European Regional Conference at Strasbourg in 2000 was prepared. Representatives from the then Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform (now the Department of Justice and Equality) attended three UN Preparatory Conferences in Geneva in 2001. An NGO forum was also organised to co-ordinate advice to the Irish Delegation at the Preparatory Conferences.
A national delegation led by the then Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform, took part in the World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa from 31 August to 8 September 2001. This was the third World Conference on racism held and produced an adopted
Declaration and Programme of Action. (The previous two conferences held in Geneva in 1978 and 1983 are concluded to have failed to achieved consensus).
Conference Programme of Action
The Conference Programme of Action focused around five key themes. These were;
 a | Sources, causes, forms and contemporary manifestations of racism. |
| a | Victims of Racism. |
| a | Measures of prevention, education and protection aimed at eradicating racism at the national, regional and international levels |
| a | Provision for effective remedies, recourses, redress and other measures at the national, regional and international levels; |
| a | Strategies to achieve full and effective equality, including international co-operation, enhancement of the United National and other international mechanisms to address racism. |
There were a number of issues included in the Programme of Action which were of interest to Ireland. These included;
| a | The concept of a national plan to be developed by States setting out how they would propose to address racism. |
| a | The importance of the participation of civil society in general and the community and voluntary sector in particular in the follow-up to the World Conference on Racism and in the development of national plans. |
| a | The role of expert and specialised bodies and the leadership role of Governments in addressing racism. |
| a | The recognition in the Programme of Action that Roma, Sinti and Travellers experience racism. |
The proposal for a National Action Plan Against Racism (NPAR) 2005 – 2008 therefore arose from this Programme of Action at the UN World Conference.
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