THE NGO FORUM OF THE
AMERICAS
Quito, March 13-16 2001
The NGO Forum of the Americas will be held in Quito (Ecuador) on the 13 - 16 of March, 2001. It is part of the
process leading up to the NGO World Forum and the "World
Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance", which will take place in Durban, South Africa in August and September, 2001.
GOALS
The Forum of the Americas is being created as an autonomous space for civil society organizations. It is
intended to be open, plural and inclusive. The main goals of the Forum are to offer civil society its own space
to present its view points as they relate to the themes of the Conference; to establish consensus on proposals,
strategies and priorities in preparation for the Conference; to undertake actions that give visibility to the
various actors and sectors; and to put future plans in perspective.
THE
PARTICIPATION
It is hoped that prior to the Forum, concertation will take place in all countries and sub-regions, resulting in
consensual proposals to serve as basis for the elaboration of an agenda for both the Forum of the Americas as well as
the World Forum and World Conference in South Africa.
In the spirit of diversity and pluralism that are the central axes of proposal for the development of societies free
of racism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance, it is hoped that national and sub-regional organizations
adopt these axes in their proposals and that they are reflected in the representation of their delegations to the
Forum. This implies gender equality and diversity.
Registration information will be announced shortly.
THE ORGANIZERS
Delegated by the NGO Liaison office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, the organizing entities for the
Forum are: La Agencia Latinoamericana de Información -ALAI and Human Rights Internet -HRI-.
In the host country, these organizations are coordinating with the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del
Ecuador and the Ecuadorian Forum for Diversity and Pluralism in order to address the organizational and logistic
aspects of the event. At the continental level, coordination has been established with the Provisional NGO
Coordinating Committee which was formed during the World Conference Preparatory Meeting which took place in Geneva
in May.
For more information:
ALAI
C.P. 17 12 877
Quito, Ecuador
Tel: +593 2505 074
Fax: +593 2505 073
E mail: ddhh@alainet.org
Human Rights Internet
8 York Street
Suite 302
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1N 5S6
Tel.:(1 613) 789 7407
Fax: (1 613) 789 7414
E mail: hri@hri.ca
