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In Arabic [Paris- 30 June 2008] A number of Arab municipal officials gathered in Casablanca on Wednesday (June 25th) to launch a UNESCO-supported coalition against racism, discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. The Arab coalition completes a range of similar coalitions UNESCO has already established on regional levels in Africa, North America, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. With the participation of the Arab coalition, UNESCO plans to announce an international coalition against racism on Monday (June 30th) at the Third World Forum on Human Rights in Nantes, France. The aim of the Arab initiative is to create a network of Arab municipalities that wish to share their experiences in order to improve their anti-racism policies. Casablanca Mayor Mohamed Sajid said. "The city of Casablanca has been called the 'beacon city' for the Arab region, with the main mission of co-ordinating anti-racism actions and initiatives for Arab cities," Sajid added. Nouakchott's communal council chairman, Ahmed Hamza, said that racism is reflected in different forms everywhere. "The hardest form without a doubt is poverty," said Hamza. "When you combat poverty, as you should, and you instil the principle of equal opportunity, then I think a number of things will diminish." Initiated by UNESCO in March 2004, the principle of regional coalitions of cities against racism aims to facilitate the networking of municipalities that wish to share their experiences to improve policies to fight racism, discrimination, xenophobia and exclusion. For UNESCO, municipal authorities, as policy-makers at the local level, are seen as key players in this process. The ultimate goal is to bring together, within an International Coalition, all cities wishing to conduct a joint struggle against racism. The international coalition will be officially launched on 30 June 2008 in Nantes (France), as part of the 3rd World Forum of Human Rights, during a ceremony in the presence of Pierre Sané, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for the Social and Human Sciences and of representatives of the regional coalitions’ “leader” cities Signatory cities commit themselves to several obligations, such as to promote equality programmes in employment and the provision of services; to agree to offer greater support to victims of racial discrimination. They also must introduce an action plan into their municipal strategies and policies to provide the human, financial and material resources necessary to identify and combat acts of discrimination based on racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Contacts For more Information contact: Souria Saad-Soy, UNESCO Office in Rabat Tel. +33 1 45 68 41 96 Further information: ** Questionnaire for the Drurban Review [UNOHCHR] ** EU Commission to propose a ban on all discrimination [19 June 2008] ** More resources on Discrimination
s.saad-zoy@unesco.org.ma
Tel. +212 37 670372/74
Marcello Scarone, Struggle against Discrimination and Racism Section, UNESCO
m.scarone@unesco.org