| FACTORS OF THE CONFERENCE AND THE RESULTING DYNAMICS
1. Massive presence and principal actors
One of the most noteworthy aspects of the Citizen’s Conference was
the massive presence of civil society. According to the official data
kept by the organizers of the Conference, there were more than 1,700
people registered, with representation from every country of the
hemisphere. The Chilean delegation was among the largest delegations,
with more than 400 participants, most of whom were members of the
Mapuche peoples. Of the delegations that traveled to Santiago, the
Brazilian delegation stood out with more than 170 members, with
impressive participation from the Brazilian Black Movement and in
particular from Afro-Brazilian women. The United States, Uruguay and
Canada were also represented by large delegations.
One of the common characteristics of the different delegations is
that they were comprised of a wide range of groups. The Citizen’s
Conference and the Regional PrepCom represented the first time that the
great majority of attendees had participated in an international
conference within the framework of the United Nations.
The presence of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants deserves
particular emphasis. Representatives of indigenous peoples, in spite of
the heterogeneity of their composition, showed a great coherence in
their general statements with a clear identification of the principal
points for collective assertion at the Citizen’s Conference and the
Regional PrepCom. Furthermore, they took a clear ideological position
prior to the regional meetings, maintaining that the lack of
acknowledgement of their status as peoples is a manifestation of racial
discrimination.
For Afro-descendants, the Citizen’s Conference and the Regional
PrepCom represented the first opportunity in which they were principal
actors as a regional group in the international arena. The Afro-Latin
Americans in particular participated with a burgeoning collective
identity that demonstrated enormous potential for bringing the fight
against racism in their respective countries to the international arena.
Undoubtedly, one of their biggest successes was heightening their
visibility and that of the problems that they face throughout the entire
hemisphere. In comparison with indigenous peoples, however, it is clear
that the Afro-descendant movement has not developed a regional
conceptual platform with assertions that are uniform throughout the
region. The lack of international and regional forums where
Afro-descendants of the Americas can jointly discuss their concerns and
proposals works against the objective of formulating certain consensus
points.
The migrant caucus and the women’s caucus were very active
throughout the entire Citizen’s Conference. Both caucuses showed that
their labor began long before the meeting in Santiago, which translated
into a strong articulation of their positions and clarity in the
distribution of tasks and responsibilities. Other actors who were very
active during the Citizen’s Conference and who were able to make their
assertions reflected in the final document were the Roma, gays and
lesbians, youth, persons with disabilities and Jews. Among the thematic
groups, the group that worked on environmental racism was noted for
being both articulate and effective.
In the Citizen’s Conference, there was a noticeable absence of
internationally recognized mainstream human rights organizations. Unlike
other regional preparatory conferences and meetings where international
as well as regional and national human rights organizations participated
with a large and highly visible delegation, in Santiago, the
International Human Rights Law Group was the only "international
human rights organization" that was visibly active.
2. Lessons learned
- Organization
In order to analyze the concrete results of the Citizen’s
Conference, it is essential to first take into account the time
constraints that the Conference faced. All of the principal decisions,
including format, structure, substantive themes of discussion,
participants, and the granting of financial aid for participation, were
made less than four months before the date of the Conference, with the
majority of them being made in the two months preceding the Conference.
This situation produced a large measure of uncertainty, and coupled with
contradictory information, made the preparatory process for the Citizen’s
Conference challenging and made it difficult for NGOs to define their
strategy for the Conference.
However, the organization of the Citizen’s Conference generally
proved to be successful. There are two critical elements which converged
to produce this success. In the first place, there was a strong
structure at the national level, coordinated by the Ideas Foundation.
The staff of the Ideas Foundation completely dedicated their time
before, during and after the Conference. Additionally, there were a
large number of volunteers during the Conference which allowed the
Conference, with a presence of 1,700 people from more than 30 different
countries, to function without any major problems. Efficient modes of
communication with the Chilean government, an extensive network of
contacts in Santiago, and the ability to communicate with organizations
throughout the region, also proved to be important resources supported
by the Ideas Foundation.
The second critical factor in the organization of the Conference was
the formation of a Convening Council, where important organizations
throughout the region were represented. While the Convening Council was
not as active as it could have been, it proved to be fundamental to
giving a regional rather than national perspective to the Conference and
assuring that all sectors and sub-regions were able to contribute to its
development.
The choice of the Diego Portales Convention Center, where the
Regional PrepCom would also be held, for the location of the Citizen’s
Conference, was a very apt choice in two ways. First, it allowed NGOs to
familiarize themselves with the building, which would be key during the
following days when the meeting of governments took place. Second, it
concentrated participants within a defined area, which added to the
possibilities for interaction among themselves and with governments.
Various reflections can be made in relation to the format of the
Citizen’s Conference. The obvious point is that a rigid format, with
predetermined schedules and little space for parallel activities, does
not correspond well with the dynamics of a two-day conference involving
exceedingly diverse NGOs from multiple countries throughout the
hemisphere. The parallel activities, the subdivision of caucuses, the
surge of new caucuses, and the informal meetings in the hallways and
communal spaces, proved to be as rich as the planned activities.
However, a certain structured program, with clarity about the objectives
of the Conference and the desired outcomes and final documents, was
useful in that it gave a certain coherence and sense of unity to the
Conference.
- Final Declaration
The drafting of the Final Declaration of the Citizen’s Conference
proved to be one of the most demanding processes of the whole
Conference. In the first place, the first draft of the Final Declaration
was released only ten days before the Citizen’s Conference and only in
Spanish, in spite of the fact that English, Portuguese and French were
also languages of the Conference. These circumstances meant that very
few participants had access to the document before the Conference. Given
the shortage of time in Santiago, it was agreed that the Conference
would focus on preparing a Final Declaration, and that a separate Plan
of Action would not be drafted. Approximately 30 people participated in
the Final Document Drafting Committee, which was comprised of two
representatives from each one of the caucuses and thematic commissions.
This process, while proving to be very democratic, made the drafting of
a coherent document very difficult. In the end, due to the limited time,
the version of the Final Declaration read in the final plenary was only
in Spanish.
- Cross-regional dialogue
The primary goal of the NGO Forum was to provide a forum for a
cross-regional dialogue within as well as among groups that are
subjected to and working against racial discrimination. The exchange of
experiences, the identification of common problems and proposals to
solve them, and the creation of alliances are some of the objectives
that cross-regional dialogue facilitates. The need for this type of
dialogue was reflected, for instance, in the case of Afro-descendants
who lacked an awareness and understanding of the realities faced by
Afro-descendants in other countries. This lack of cross-regional and
collective consciousness resulted in an absence of uniformity and
consensus, which had the effect of weakening their positions.
The original concept of the Citizen’s Conference, however, worked
against cross-regional dialogue among and within the different groups.
The division in the caucuses according to social groups prevented a
dialogue among the different groups (indigenous peoples,
Afro-descendants, migrants, displaced persons and other ethnic groups).
Additionally, the division of the caucus of Afro-descendants into
sub-regions prevented a cross-regional dialogue within this group.
Practically speaking, the only possibility for discussions across
different groups and different sub-regions was in the Drafting
Committee, the specific objective of which was limited to drafting the
Final Declaration. The use of different languages both in the
discussions as well as in the production of the Final Declaration also
worked against cross-regional dialogue. The need for simultaneous
translation during the discussions as well as sufficient secretariat
support to produce documents in different languages simultaneously was
strongly evident.
There were, despite these challenges, various unofficial initiatives
to promote cross-regional dialogue. As has already been indicated, the
indigenous peoples caucus decided to deliberate as a single caucus and
not to divide into sub-regions. The Afro-descendants caucus also held a
joint meeting to identify the themes, priorities and proposals of the
different sub-regions. The indigenous and Afro-descendant
representatives decided to hold a roundtable to coordinate their future
activities. Parallel activities, such as the Roundtable on Race and
Poverty that was organized by the International Human Rights Law Group,
also facilitated this dialogue.
- Funding
The massive presence of civil society organizations at the Citizen’s
Conference was made possible by the allocation of funding to a large
number of participants. In particular, the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, which provided funding for a significant
number of representatives of civil society organizations and maintained
an equilibrium of thematic, gender and geographical representation,
assured that there was a diversity of participants in the Citizen’s
Conference. This aid was crucial since it was not limited to
participation in the Citizen’s Conference, but was also extended to
the Regional PrepCom, which enabled participants to pursue significant
work with governments as well.
The contribution made by some private funders, among which the Ford
Foundation stands out, also helped this process. The Mott Foundation
deserves mention as well, especially for its support of the Roundtable
on Race and Poverty organized by the International Human Rights Law
Group. Particularly important was the resulting division of aid through
different processes, for example, channeling funds through the Ideas
Foundation, the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights and through
different national and regional organizations.
The selection process for groups that would receive financial aid
from the Citizen’s Conference was difficult, but was managed with a
high level of professionalism. The creation of a Scholarship Committee,
in which there was a clear equilibrium in the representation of main
actors and groups in the region, as well as the establishment of clear
selection criteria, greatly added to the legitimacy of this process. The
main problem with the selection process is that the selections were made
with very little notice and some beneficiaries received confirmation
that they would receive financial aid only a week before the Conference.
A point of particular importance is that all recipients of financial
aid from the Ideas Foundation, the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights obtained
at the same time accreditation to participate in the Regional PrepCom.
This mechanism was exceedingly useful in that it facilitated the work of
NGOs with governments in the region.
 
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