The ONLY thing the US has done in the last few months of any use - and it has been done in the last 24 hours.
This forum is exclusively the domain of anti-Western countries who wish to prove they can send delegates who know how to speak, and to do so with a vile and hateful tongue.
No validity or truthfulness, simply those who can scream and shout the loudest and stomp their feet the hardest.
Sunday, 19 April 2009 15:42 UK
Boycott blow for UN racism forum
A major UN conference on racism looks to be in disarray as more countries confirmed they will not take part.
Australia and the Netherlands joined the US, Israel and Canada in boycotting the Geneva talks. The UK is sending a delegation, but no senior official.
The move is over concerns about anti-Israel and anti-Western bias. Iran's president, who has denied the Holocaust, is to address the meeting.
The talks are meant to review progress in fighting racism since a 2001 forum.
That conference, in Durban, ended in acrimony when Arab countries tried to define Zionism as racism.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said she was "shocked and deeply disappointed" by the boycotts.
"A handful of states have permitted one or two issues to dominate their approach to this issue, allowing them to outweigh the concerns of numerous groups of people that suffer racism and similar forms of intolerance to a pernicious and life-damaging degree on a daily basis all across the world... ," news agency AFP quoted her as saying.
Incitement
Less than a day before it is due to get under way, the five-day Durban Review Conference is being overshadowed by political wrangling between western and Muslim nations.
The draft final declaration has been causing much heated debate.
It has been watered down, with all references to Israel and the Middle East removed.
However, at the request of Middle East nations, it still contains a clause about the incitement of religious hatred.
Many Western countries see this as a curtailment of free speech.
They are also uncomfortable with the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
He is the only major leader to accept an invitation to the forum, which he will address.
He has in the past described the Holocaust as a myth, and many UN member states don't feel they should be present if he does this again, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva.
'Abused'
The US state department's confirmation of a boycott late on Saturday was followed by declarations from other western nations.
"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," said a statement from Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.
The Netherlands declared on Sunday it would not be a party to any attempt for the conference "to be abused for political ends and attacks on the West," Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said.
A meeting of EU representatives has been called for Sunday evening to evaluate the group's stand on attending, Reuter news agency reported.
However the UK will send a delegation to the conference, but without a high-level official.
It has indicated its diplomats will leave the hall if President Ahmedinejad repeats his attacks on Israel, says our correspondent.
Human rights groups and UN diplomats are dismayed that what should an important event has descended into politics, she adds.
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Holland joins US-Canada-Australia-Italy-Sweden-Israel boycott of anti-racism conference
DEBKAfile Special Report
April 19, 2009, 1:19 PM (GMT+02:00)
More world nations decided to stay away from the UN World Conference against Racism opening in Geneva April 20 as Holland joined the US-Canada-Australia-Italy-Sweden-Israel boycott.
It is the follow-up to Durban I of 2001, from which the US and Israeli delegates walked out over its anti-Israel, anti-Semitic content. Yet the text prepared for second session reaffirms the language of the first.
Guest of honor Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has scheduled a press conference for Monday, the eve of Israel's annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. Jerusalem has asked Swiss president Hans Rudolf Merz not to shake the hand of this "Holocaust denier, exporter of terrorism and anti-Semitism," whom he has arranged to meet Sunday evening.
In regretfully announcing US absence from the Geneva event, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said that while some progress had been made in crafting a more acceptable conference document, "The text still contains language that reaffirms in toto the Durban Declaration from 2001… [It] singles out one particular conflict and prejudges key issues that can only be resolved in negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The US also has serious concerns about relatively new additions… regarding 'incitement' which run counter to the US commitment to unfettered free speech."
Explaining its absence, Canada has said it is "interested in combating racism, not promoting it," and Italy condemned its "aggressive and anti-Semitic statements."
Durban II intends to criminalize any “defamation of Islam” based on a Pakistani proposal that only mentions Islam by name and ignores the other religions of the world such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and, of course, Judaism.
In walking out of the original conference in 2001, the then secretary of state Colin Powell said: "… you do not combat racism by hateful language, some of which is a throwback to the days of Zionism equals racism, support the idea that we have made too much of the Holocaust or suggest that apartheid exists in Israel or that single out only one country in the world – Israel – for censure and abuse."
Black U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (Democrat) said the Black Caucus, which she heads, was “deeply dismayed” at the decision to boycott Durban II. She explained that this would make it more difficult for Washington to influence the UN Human Rights Council.
Washington has taken steps to join the controversial body which is dominated by states under fire for human rights violations.
On the other hand, pro-Israeli and freedom of speech groups will hold protests against the Geneva conference. A noon rally will be led by Rep. Scott Garret (R-N.J.).
Garret, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R.-Fla.), and Rep. Dough Lamborn (R.-Colo.) have co-sponsored legislation to prohibit US funding for any follow-up events of Durban I.
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