Although the World Conference against Racism and Xenophobia (WCAR) began and ended between a rock and a hard place, this was an unprecedented opportunity that helped bring immigrant and refugee rights groups to strategize at a global level. Media coverage about the WCAR that took place in South Africa last September downplayed the scope of the conference and its outcomes – and the September 11 terrorist attacks occupied headlines at its conclusion. But for migrant and refugee rights advocates, the conference provided a unique space to highlight the critical role of migration in the globalized economy, and for establishing broad guidelines for rights protections for a broad cross-section of people in migration. The conference process itself brought together the fledgling international migrant and refugee rights movement, including over 60 U.S. participants from community-based, labor, legal and advocacy groups from around the country.

The conference had a broad mandate – identifying the many contemporary forms of racism and coming up with forward-looking strategies to address them. On many fronts, government deliberations skirted responsibility and failed to come up with durable solutions. Nonetheless, the scope of the issues, the presence of NGOs, and highly specific language, with stated commitments for follow-up mechanisms, were gains and potential organizing tools for the international movement against all forms of racism.

In light of the conference’s focus on racism and xenophobia, migrant rights advocates internationally saw the conference as a way to raise the profile of the migration issue, and to bring together far-flung organizers and advocates. In the end, while the forty-five plus paragraphs pertaining to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons that were included in the governmental conference documents fell short of the stronger and more inclusive language favored by rights advocates, the provisions established a baseline of international protections for a broad range of people in migration.

A number of the conference agreements reflected the goals of advocates, who lobbied hard to include specific reference to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons; rights protections for all migrants, regardless of immigration or legal status; specific reference to the link between racism and xenophobia; and the call for more state ratifications and the bringing into force of the “International Convention for the Protection of the Rights for All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.”

For the first time, migrant and refugee advocates networked during the conference preparatory events and during the conference itself, forming the international NGO Migrant and Refugee Caucus. Activists collaborated on a conference lobby document and strategized together to win support for key goals. For many of the poorly resourced organizations around the world working on migrant issues under often-desperate conditions, the conference provided a vehicle for networking and for developing the seeds of an international strategy. For example, out of the preparatory process in the Americas, a new South American migrant rights network emerged, and in Africa, a pre-Durban conference also brought together migrant and refugee NGOs, many meeting for the first time.

In the year prior to the Durban conference, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights had organized the Immigrant Rights Working Group, including representatives from several local and regional groups, to help organize preparations and mobilize participants. IRWG members worked on a “shadow report” for the conference, coordinated trainings, and participated in conference preparatory activities, including meetings in Santiago, Quito, and Geneva.

Released in the U.S. prior to the Durban trip, the shadow report, From the Borderline to the Colorline: A Report on Anti-Immigrant Racism in the United States, was based on a survey of conditions for immigrant communities conducted by twenty-five community-based organizations. It provided an overview assessment of a wide range of issues in the areas of immigration enforcement, employment, women’s rights, welfare, housing, and hate violence, among others, and attempted to articulate the “race edge” to anti-immigrant policies and practices.

For a number of the U.S. delegates, the trip to South Africa was their first international trip, or their first international conference. For many who had themselves migrated to the U.S., the South Africa experience was particularly unique, as they found themselves among other migrants from countries around the world. At Durban, the delegates organized workshops, were active in caucusing, held a successful press conference and rally on the grounds of the WCAR – much to the consternation of the conference security personnel – and were among the active NGO lobbyists in the conference itself.

In a post-Durban summation held in November, U.S. migrant and refugee rights delegates reaffirmed their commitment to pursue the aims of the Immigrant Rights Working Group in preparing for the South Africa conference – to continue to raise grassroots community awareness of international protections, and to remain connected to and engaged with international migrant and refugee rights colleagues in pressuring for the broad range of protections spelled out in the Durban conference documents.

Catherine Tactaquin is the Executive Director of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.