MINELRES: Follow up on the WCAR: first meeting of eminent persons

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Sandra Aragon <saragon@ohchr.org>


Dear Colleagues,

For your information, please find a United Nations' press releases about
the first meeting of the eminent persons appointed by United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to follow up on the World Conference
against Racism. The meeting is being held in Geneva at the United
Nations Office, from 16 to 18 September.

Best regards

Sandra Arag�n-Parriaux
NGO liaison officer
Anti-Discrimination Unit
OHCHR
Tel: 00 41 22 917 93 93
Fax: 00 41 22 917 90 50


UNITED NATIONS                                                   

Press Release                                                    

EMINENT PERSONS CHARGED WITH FOLLOW UP OF DURBAN ANTI-RACISM CONFERENCE
HOLD FIRST MEETING IN GENEVA               
16 September 2003 

The independent experts appointed by United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan to follow up on the World Conference against Racism are
meeting for the first time in Geneva from 16 to 18 September to discuss
how they will carry out their mandate and cooperation with the High
Commissioner for Human Rights.             

The eminent persons, representing all the regions of the world, bring
their stature, expertise and a strong commitment to anti-discrimination
and equality issues to the implementation of the Declaration and
Programme of Action adopted at the World Conference in Durban in
2001.                                                                                                                        
The experts are:                                                     
- His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan;         
- Dr Edna Maria Santos Roland of Brazil, who served as
Rapporteur-General of the World Conference against Racism;         
- Dr Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania, former President of the United
Nations General Assembly and Secretary-General of the Organization of
African Unity; and,                                               
- Dr Hanna Suchocka, former Prime Minister of Poland.              

The fifth expert, Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari, former President of
Finland, is unable to attend this first gathering, which will be held in
Room X of the Palais des Nations.                            

Biographical Information                                             

President Ahtisaari is currently the Co-Chairman of the East West
Institute and Chairman of the International Crisis Group. From March
1994 to the end of February 2000, he was the President of the Republic
of Finland. He joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1965 and held
various posts, including in Tanzania, Zambia, Somalia and Mozambique. He
has also served in various positions at the United Nations in relation
to the former Yugoslavia and Namibia, and he was United Nations
Under-Secretary General (USG) for Administration and Management from
1987 to 1991. President Ahtisaari was born in
1937.                                                    
Prince El Hassan has founded and is actively involved in a number of
Jordanian and international institutes and committees. He co-chaired the
Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues (ICIHI),
1983 and is currently President and Patron of the Arab Thought Forum,
President of the Club of Rome, and Moderator of the World Conference on
Religion and Peace. His Royal Highness is founding member of the
Parliament of Cultures which was established in Istanbul in July 2003 to
promote understanding among cultures of the world and to enhance
dialogue among their thinkers and intellectuals. The author of several
books, he graduated with a degree in Oriental Studies. His Royal
Highness was born in 1947.     

Dr. Santos Roland is a psychologist. She is the President of the Board
of Directors of the Fala Preta Organization of Black Women in Brazil.
She has published extensively on the topics of the Brazilian black
women's movement, women's health needs in underserved communities, and
the prevention of HIV/AIDS. She served as the Rapporteur-General of the
World Conference against Racism and was a member of the Brazilian
delegation to the Conference. She is currently working on racism and
racial discrimination in the Latin American region for UNESCO. Dr Santos
Roland was born in 1951.       

Dr. Salim has a long and distinguished career in government and
international public service. He was Prime Minister of Tanzania as well
as the country's Minister of Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs.
He was the President of the United Nations Security Council in 1976 and
President of the General Assembly from 1979 to 1980. He served as
Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity from 1989 to
2001. Dr Salim is a member of the board of the Geneva-based South Centre
(an Organization of Developing Countries) and he is currently President
of the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, Tanzania. Dr Salim was born in
1942.                                 
Dr. Suchocka was a legal advisor for the "Solidarity" trade union in the
1980s. Since the late 1980s, she has been a member of the Polish
Parliament and has served in various official capacities, including as a
member of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs, the
Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly, and the Venice
Commission on Democracy through Law, as well as Minister of Justice and
Attorney General of the Republic of Poland. She was Poland's first woman
Prime Minister, serving in 1992 and 1993. She holds a master's degree
and a doctorate in law. Dr Suchocka was born in
1946.                                                                
For further information, contact Jos� Luis D�az (e-mail jdiaz@ohchr.org,
tel+41 22 917 9242, fax+41 22 917 9004) or Gloria Nwabuogu (e-mail,
gnwabuogu@ohchr.org, tel+41 22 917 9394, fax+41 22 917 9050), Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Office at Geneva.