Mandela to head racism task force ahead of UN conference
Nelson Mandela is to lead a new UN anti-racism taskforce, which will also include Jimmy Carter and Mikhail Gorbachev.
The former South African premier will bring his anti-apartheid experience to chair the Eminent Persons Group on racism.
The forum has been established because a surge of violence in the Middle East and other regional pressures are threatening to stifle the upcoming World Conference Against Racism.
Mary Robinson, the UN high commissioner for human rights, says work on a draft declaration for the August 31 to September 7 conference is "making relatively slow progress," partly because of a lack of high-level political will.
"There's an urgency about the issues and having a breakthrough in Durban," the former Irish president said. "To fail to seize this opportunity ... would be to have a setback in the very area where we desperately need progress."
Mr Mandela's taskforce also includes former Indian Prime Minister I K Gujral, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, Prince El Hassan of Jordan and former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans.
The group members will work individually in the run-up to the conference lobbying governments and speaking out about the aims of conference.
