CONGO E-Update • 29 January 2009

Special Edition

The CONGO E-Update is produced by staff in New York, Geneva and Vienna, with contributions from members and affiliated partners.

- Watch out for new and exciting changes in future E-Updates!

Durban Review Conference, 20 – 24 April 2009, Geneva

The Durban Review Conference will be held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 20 to 24 April 2009.

The process of preparatory meetings, also conducted at the United Nations in Geneva, started in November 2008. The first formal meeting was held on 27 November 2008, during which the working group elected its first Chair, Yury Boichenko, First Counsellor at the Russian Permanent Mission. Other meetings were/will be convened prior to the main conference at the UN in Geneva as follows:

a) 19 to 23 January 2009
First intercessional open-ended intergovernmental working group meeting
b) 10 to 16 April 2009
Next formal session of the intercessional open-ended intergovernmental working group
c) 15 to 17 April 2009
Final session of the Preparatory Committee
d) 20 to 24 April 2009
Durban Review Conference.

NGO Participation

At this stage, governments are already negotiating text that resulted from the compilation of various proposals submitted by regional and other interest groups.

If your organization wishes to contribute specific amendments or additions, or propose deletions, you still have the opportunity to do so. CONGO suggests the following:

1. You may present the proposed changes to the text to the government officials following this particular UN process in your respective countries.

2. CONGO will collect contributions, compile them by region, country and organization and circulate them among the Member Governments' Permanent Missions to the United Nations and to UN officials associated with the Durban Review Process. Please send contributions to Beatriz Schulthess, Senior Associate at CONGO/Geneva, beatriz.schulthess@ngocongo.org. Such contributions should reach CONGO prior to 27 February 2009.

The most effective way to contribute to the drafting process and negotiations is by working with the text under review. To help ensure that government officials take into consideration the proposed amendments, it is recommended to follow the same structure of paragraphs and sentences used in the draft document.

3. If you are planning to attend any of the meetings, please be aware that NGOs have a total of 45 minutes for interventions. These need to focus on the sections under negotiation. The chair may interrupt all interventions deemed to lack such focus.

For more information on the Durban Review Conference please visit the following webpage: http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/

The document being negotiated is called technically reviewed version of the compilation of proposals (CRP.2)  and can be found on the following webpage: http://www.un.org/durbanreview2009/sessions.shtml

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