Western boycott blow for UN anti-racism forum

WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration will boycott next weeks United Nations conference on racism in
Geneva over what it calls objectionable language about Israel in the meetings final document that targets the
Jewish states policies in the Middle East.
The decision follows weeks of intense internal debate that is sure to please Israel and Jewish groups that
lobbied against US participation. But the move upset human rights advocates and the African-American
community who had hoped that President Barack Obama, the nations first black President, would send an
official delegation.
The Obama Administration will with regret boycott a UN conference on racism next week over objectionable
language in the meetings final document that could single out Israel for criticism and restrict free speech, the
State Department said Saturday.
Preparations for the World Conference Against Racism, which is expected to review progress made in fighting
racism since the last one in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, have been underway for months, but was shunned by
former president George W Bushs administration.
The Obamas Administration showed some interest in attending the conference set on April 20-25, but urged for
significant change to the draft text, including the removal of specific critical references to Israel.
However, after weeks of debates, the State Department said that the final draft text still retains troubling
elements to support for restrictions on free speech and affirm the conclusions drawn by the first World
Conference Against Racism held in South Africa in 2001, where there were quarrels over the Middle East and
the legacy of slavery.
Earlier Saturday, State Department Spokesman Robert Wood said that despite improvements from an earlier
draft, the changes in the final text do not address US concerns of anti-Israel and anti-Western bias. The
administration had lobbied hard for more revisions so that it could participate. Unfortunately, it now seems
certain these remaining concerns will not be addressed in the document to be adopted by the conference next
week, Wood said in a statement. Therefore, with regret, the US will not join the review conference.
AFP adds: The UN conference was undermined by a growing boycott by Western nations Sunday amid concern
that it will serve as a bully pulpit against Israel, which slammed the meeting as a tragic farce.
The outlook for the conference, which starts Monday in Geneva, was also thrown into doubt by the prospect of an
opening day speech by Irans President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has stirred outrage by repeatedly calling
the Holocaust a myth.
Australia and the Netherlands joined the US, Canada and Israel in deciding to stay away from the five-day
Durban Review Conference.
The meeting is meant to take stock of progress in fighting racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance
since the controversial World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, eight years ago.
Regrettably, we cannot be confident that the review conference will not again be used as a platform to air
offensive views, including anti-Semitic views, Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith said in a statement.
Major European Union nations were still discussing their attendance in Geneva, a spokesman for Germanys
Foreign Ministry said, as Berlin came under pressure to stay away.
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen broke ranks with the EU on Sunday, announcing that the Netherlands
would not attend because it feared the event would be abused for political ends and attacks on the West.
Calling the UN meeting a tragic farce, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said: Officially it is
aimed at denouncing racism, but it has invited a Holocaust denier who has called for the destruction of Israel.
Monday is also Holocaust commemoration day, which will be marked by ceremony in Geneva attended by
leading Jewish figures including Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel, and the anniversary of Hitlers birthday.
US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch slammed the boycott as unacceptable, as other issues of
racial discrimination and xenophobia were overshadowed by the spat.
These countries are turning their backs on the victims of racism and are gravely endangering the UNs work
against racism, HRW spokeswoman Juliette de Rivero told AFP.
Other human rights groups challenged Ahmadinejad to eliminate severe discrimination against religious and
ethnic minorities, women, and halt incitement to hatred in Iran.
By coming to the Durban Review Conference, President Ahmadinejad signals a commitment to the
conferences goals of eliminating all forms of discrimination and intolerance, said Diane Alai, the BICs
representative at the UN in Geneva.
Pope Benedict XVI called the conference an important initiative and urged firm and concrete international
action... against all forms of discrimination and intolerance.