UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to speak at Kathrada Foundation lecture

The theme of the Lecture is "Towards a world free of racial discrimination: global progress and local challenges since the 2001 World Conference against Racism". September 2011 marked the 10-year anniversary of the WCAR which was held in Durban. Hailed as a landmark event in the struggle to eradicate racism, xenophobia, discrimination and related intolerances, the WCAR was meant to be a conference of "actions not just words". This year, world leaders convened in New York at the United Nations headquarters to assess the progress made ten years since the WCAR 2001. UN officials noted that while much progress has been made, discrimination and related intolerance has increased in many parts of the world.

Judge Pillay addresses whether racism has retreated

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Judge Pillay played a pivotal role in the review process since her appointment at the UN in 2008, and from this vantage point, will deliver her address on what has transpired over the past decade. She will consider, for example, what the vision was for the globe and its diverse people that ultimately found expression in the WCAR. The address will also focus on whether this vision for a world free of racism has either retreated or gained prominence in the face of economic pressures and the resurgence of racial violence across the globe. Judge Pillay, in a column in The Star (22/09/2011), said "shamefully, racism, intolerance and discrimination remain among the most pressing issues of our time". The lecture will consider how inclusive societies can still be envisaged, and what South Africans can do differently to achieve a non-racial society.

The Kathrada Foundation has welcomed such a response from Judge Pillay because of the relevance of the topic to contemporary South African society where we have seen a resurgence of racialised incidents in the media of late. The foundation sees the intervention by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a crucial part of its work that more broadly focuses on contemporary meanings and interpretations of non-racialism in South Africa.

Other projects

The foundation's other projects include a joint focus group research initiative with the Gauteng City Region Observatory where almost 200 ordinary South Africans across racial, class and rural/urban divides reflected on the prospects for a non-racial future in South Africa. In the lead up to the annual lecture, a number of authors and thinkers on non-racialism will present their interpretations to the outcome of the focus groups at the Kathrada Foundation's conference from 13-14 October. Participating institutions include the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, and the Centre for Critical Research on Race and Identity.

At the conference, the Centre for the Study of Democracy also presents its report on the thinking of a sample of prominent South African leaders on the issue of non-racialism. This work was commissioned by the AKF. Also to be presented, on day two, is the National Planning Commission's "Dialogue on Nation Building". Participants and attendees will each leave with an understanding of the work needed to be done to build a non-racial, democratic South Africa. The conference will culminate in the Kathrada Foundation Annual Lecture on 15 October.

Media who would like to attend, should contact Roanne Naidoo, marketing and communications: Ahmed Kathrada Foundation on tel: +27 (0)11 854 0082 or email moc.liamg@azennaor.