美国非政府团体组织对代表团退出种族大会表示失望

  

US NGOs Disappointed at Official Delegation¹ Withdrawal² at Racism³ Conference

Vikram Singh

Durban

5 Sep 2001 05:29 UTC

 

Activists⁴ in Durban on Tuesday continued their protests over the United States' 1)withdrawal from the World Conference Against Racism. Leaders of American non-governmental organizations, NGOs, are trying to keep the conference on track despite losing their official 2)delegation.

Angry protests continued outside the International Convention Center in Durban, South Africa a day after the U.S. and Israel said they were withdrawing from the World Conference Against Racism. Both countries said they objected to anti-Israeli and "racist⁵" language in the draft documents of the conference.

Leaders of American NGOs say they are not entirely⁶ surprised by the U.S. decision. They say American officials displayed "3)tunnel vision" on the Israel question, and that has 4)severely damaged an important 5)forum.

Michael Posner is the Director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. He feels the U.S. has failed to take leadership in the conference and succeeded mainly in 6)diverting attention from critical issues. "There's lots of other things going on here that aren't getting the attention they deserve," he says. "There [are] all kinds of questions about criminal justice and 7)refugees and the Dalits in India and 8)indigenous populations. And I think the United States, unfortunately, focussed so much on the Middle East issues that it took attention away from other issues that deserve at least as much and I think more attention."

American NGOs came to Durban representing a wide range of specific issues, from reparations for slavery to Asian 9)immigrant rights. But despite widely 10)differing opinions, U.S. NGOs in Durban seem united by their disappointment in the U.S. decision.

The U.S. NGO coordinating⁷ committee was established last year to help American activists stay organized. They had planned a meeting with the U.S. delegation just as news of the withdrawal broke on Monday. Malika Dutt runs an NGO in New York and is a member of the coordinating committee. She notes activists hoped for "positive leadership" from the U.S. on human rights issues, but found what she calls "11)immaturity⁸." "The U.S. government," she says, "has been acting⁹ in an extremely immature¹⁰ fashion around its participation¹¹ to the race conference for several months now. We're going, we're not going; we may go, we may not go; we'll go but we'll send a low level delegation; no, no, no we'll send [Secretary of State] Colin Powell."

Ms. Dutt feels that U.S. 12)acceptance of the conference documents could help activists later on, but that without the U.S. in Durban, work may proceed better. "U.S. NGOs feel like with them gone perhaps the conference can get on with the business of really addressing racial justice in all of its manifestations¹² around the world, including the United States," she says.

The generally accepted belief among U.S. activists at the Durban conference is that the 13)departure of the U.S. and Israeli delegations¹³ has 14)distracted from work on documents intended to direct a global fight against racism for years to come. Vernelia Randall, an American law professor, has been involved with the conference process from the beginning. "This document has to serve the basis for forcing governments to 15)move forward on racial issues," she says. "Those issues involve a lot of different groups, a lot of different people with a lot of different problems."

Ms. Randall fears that many other issues will be 16)ignored as activists protest America's departure. The U.S. says it will 17)retain a single observer at the conference. For Malika Dutt, the new links 18)forged between a wide range of NGOs will make it more difficult, as she puts it, "for governments to keep the people out of global discussions." She adds, "we're not going to go back on the demands we're making."

 

 

(1)      withdrawal[wIT5drC:El]n.收回, 撤退, 退回, 取消

(2)      delegation[delI5^eIF(E)n]n.代表团, 授权, 委托

(3)      tunnel vision n.[医](眼科)管状视, 视野狭隘

(4)      severely[sI5vIElI]adv.严格地, 激烈地

(5)      forum[5fC:rEm]n.论坛, 法庭, 讨论会

(6)      divert[daI5v:t]v.转移, 转向, 使高兴

(7)      refugee[refjJ:5dVi:; (?@) 5refjJdVi:]n.难民, 流亡者

(8)      indigenous[In5dIdVInEs]adj.本土的

(9)      immigrant[5ImI^rEnt]adj.(从外国)移来的, 移民的n.移民, 侨民

(10)      differ[5dIfE(r)]vi.不一致, 不同

(11)      immaturity n.未成熟, 粗糙,未臻完美

(12)      acceptance[Ek5septEns]n.接受, 承诺, 容忍, 赞同, 相信

(13)      departure[dI5pB:tFE(r)]n.启程, 出发, 离开

(14)      distract[dI5strAkt]v.转移

(15)      move forward 前进

(16)      ignore[I^5nC:(r)]vt.不理睬, 忽视

(17)      retain[rI5teIn]vt.保持, 保留

(18)      forge[fC:dV]v.稳步前进, 铸造, 伪造

 

 

1 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

2 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

3 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

8 immaturity   

n.不成熟；未充分成长；未成熟；粗糙

参考例句：

• It traces the development of a young man from immaturity to maturity. 它描写一位青年从不成熟到成熟的发展过程。 来自辞典例句
• Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. 不成熟就是不经他人的指引就无法运用自身的理解力。 来自互联网

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

11 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

12 manifestations   

n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• These were manifestations of the darker side of his character. 这些是他性格阴暗面的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To be wordly-wise and play safe is one of the manifestations of liberalism. 明哲保身是自由主义的表现之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法