HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INTRODUCES LOGO

FOR WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM

GENEVA, 23 February (UN Information Service) -- Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Secretary-General of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, today introduced the official logo of the World Conference, which will be held in Durban, South Africa, from 31 August to 7 September.

The logo, put forward by the South African Government, is an artistic interpretation of the "Yin Yang", the traditional Chinese black and white symbol representing the two opposing but complementing fundamental forces of life.

For the Durban Conference, multiple shades of gray and artistic movement were added to the traditional Yin Yang to emphasize the diverse geographic, cultural and racial origins of human beings and to symbolize a more dynamic and evolving society.

The logo is supported by an oblique as a basis to support the Yin Yang.  This axis represents the traditional globe and adds the idea of a compass depicting the way forward.

Mrs. Robinson said she warmly welcomed the logo as a tool to assert the identity of the Conference and as a symbol of what she hoped the Durban gathering would achieve at the start of a new century:  the charting of a course based on the principles of non-discrimination, tolerance and diversity.

"The logo", she said, "embodies the concept that diversity, rather than being a reason for antagonism, is enriching, and that the different peoples of the world complement each other.  I can think of no better way of symbolizing that we are all one human family".

For further information and to view the logo on the Web, go to www.un.org/rights/racism/logo.htm, or contact:  Teferra Shiawl-Kidanekal, World Conference Secretariat, United Nations, Geneva; Tel: +41 22 917 9127; Fax: +41 22 917 9050; e-mail: tshiwalk.hchr@unog.ch;

Or contact the Development and Human Rights Section, United Nations Department of Public Information, Room S-1040, New York, NY 10017; Fax: (212) 963-1186; e-mail: vasic@un.org.

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