With the World Conference Against Racism approaching in September, I also wish focus upon the link between forced displacement and racism, xenophobia and intolerance. It was certainly no accident that the drafters of the Refugee Convention made racial persecution a primary ground for refugee status. The fact that the Conference will be held at Durban in a democratic South Africa demonstrates just how far we have come in a short time. But we are still far from the day when racism and racial discrimination will be known only from history books. Racism and related forms of ethnic and religious intolerance are often at the root of tension and conflict in society.
Few States are racially or ethnically homogenous today.
But a single racial or ethnic identity is increasingly seen as the defining characteristic of nationality. I find this rejection of diversity deeply disturbing. It represents a retreat from modernity in a rapidly globalising world. Governments have a fundamental responsibility to step in and mediate racial or ethnic tensions in society. Within the past few weeks, the violence has finally reached the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - threatening the stability of the entire region once again.