Res. No. 2012 Title Resolution supporting the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance and the Proposed United Nations Dakar Declaration and urging the United States to support the same. Body By Council Members Perkins, Espada, Freed, Henry, Lopez, Watkins; also Council Members Carrion, Foster, Harrison and Robinson Whereas, In 1997, the United Nations agreed to hold a World Conference on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Durban, South Africa, from August 31, 2001 to September 7, 2001; and Whereas, According to the Secretary General of the Conference and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, "This World Conference has the potential to be among the most significant gatherings at the start of this century;" and Whereas, The Congressional Black Caucus has urged President George W. Bush to support the Conference not only in terms of allocating resources for the work of the Conference but with participation and commitment as a nation to the goal of addressing racial discrimination in the United States and abroad; and Whereas, In the Spring of 1998, at the African Group Meeting during the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, a Resolution was drafted identifying the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as a Crime Against Humanity; and Whereas, At the African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Conference Against Racism, held in Dakar, Senegal (January 22 - 24, 2001), the African Ministers developed what is called the "Dakar Declaration;" and Whereas, The Dakar Declaration affirms that the slave trade is a unique tragedy, particularly against Africans - a crime against humanity which is unparalleled in history, and has resulted in substantial and lasting economic, political, and cultural damage to the descendants of its victims; and Whereas, The Declaration strongly reaffirms that States which pursued racist policies, such as slavery, discrimination, and apartheid, should assume their full responsibilities and provide adequate reparations to those States, communities, and individuals who were victims of such racist policies or acts, regardless of when or by whom they were committed; and Whereas, Supporters of the African Reparations Movement believe that historians can demonstrate how the invasion of African territories, the mass capture of Africans, the horrors of the middle passage, the chattelization of Africans in America, and the extermination of the language and culture of the transported Africans constituted violations of international law; thus, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity, and accordingly, African people are owed reparations throughout the world; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York supports the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and other Related Intolerance ad the proposed Dakar Declaration and urges the United States to support the same. LS # 4489 07/19/01