Saturday, 04 June 2011
The UN summit marks the 10-year commemoration of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism that was held in the South African city of Durban. (File photo)
The Obama administration will boycott a world conference against racism being held at United Nations headquarters in September because of concerns about anti-Semitism.
The UN summit marks the 10-year commemoration of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism that was held in the South African city of Durban. The US and Israel walked out of that meeting over a draft resolution that criticized Israel and equated Zionism with racism.
The United States will not participate in the upcoming conference because the Durban process “included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism,” Joseph E. MacManus, acting US assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, wrote in a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York.
AP obtained a copy of the letter, sent Wednesday to Senator Gillibrand and other members of Congress.
The UN summit marks the 10-year commemoration of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism that was held in the South African city of Durban. The US and Israel walked out of that meeting over a draft resolution that criticized Israel and equated Zionism with racism.
The United States will not participate in the upcoming conference because the Durban process “included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism,” Joseph E. MacManus, acting US assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, wrote in a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York.
AP obtained a copy of the letter, sent Wednesday to Senator Gillibrand and other members of Congress.
Senator Gillibrand welcomed the administration’s decision. “It is an insult to America that the United Nations has decided to hold the Durban III conference in New York just days from the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks,” she said in a press release.
“We all witnessed how extreme anti-Semitic and anti-American voices took over” the original gathering in South Africa and a follow up conference, the senator wrote.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella of 52 groups including B’nai B’rith International, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, also lauded the administration’s move.
There was no immediate response to a request seeking comment from the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mr. MacManus’ letter was responding to a letter Senator Gillibrand had sent America’s UN Ambassador Susan Rice asking her to “send a strong signal” by not participating. She also applauded Canada’s earlier decision to boycott the event.
“In December, we voted against the resolution establishing this event because the Durban process included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism, and we did not want to see that commemorated,” Mr. MacManus told the senator.
He added that in 2009 the US withdrew from the planning of the conference because it reaffirmed the 2001 Durban Declaration, “which unfairly singled out Israel and included language inconsistent with US traditions of robust free speech.”
The US and at least seven other countries also boycotted a 2009 follow up event that the UN held in Geneva, citing concerns that Islamic countries would demand a denunciation of Israel and insist that all criticism of Islam be banned.
As for this year’s event, “the United States delegation in New York has not been involved in the formal negotiations on the modalities resolution or the outcome document and has had a note taker only in these proceedings,” the State Department letter said. “We share your concern about the Durban commemoration's timing and venue as just days earlier, we will have held solemn ten-year memorials for those murdered in the September 11 terrorist attacks.”
The letter said that the United States is “fully committed to upholding the human rights of all people and to combating racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance, and bigotry.”
“We all witnessed how extreme anti-Semitic and anti-American voices took over” the original gathering in South Africa and a follow up conference, the senator wrote.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella of 52 groups including B’nai B’rith International, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, also lauded the administration’s move.
There was no immediate response to a request seeking comment from the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mr. MacManus’ letter was responding to a letter Senator Gillibrand had sent America’s UN Ambassador Susan Rice asking her to “send a strong signal” by not participating. She also applauded Canada’s earlier decision to boycott the event.
“In December, we voted against the resolution establishing this event because the Durban process included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism, and we did not want to see that commemorated,” Mr. MacManus told the senator.
He added that in 2009 the US withdrew from the planning of the conference because it reaffirmed the 2001 Durban Declaration, “which unfairly singled out Israel and included language inconsistent with US traditions of robust free speech.”
The US and at least seven other countries also boycotted a 2009 follow up event that the UN held in Geneva, citing concerns that Islamic countries would demand a denunciation of Israel and insist that all criticism of Islam be banned.
As for this year’s event, “the United States delegation in New York has not been involved in the formal negotiations on the modalities resolution or the outcome document and has had a note taker only in these proceedings,” the State Department letter said. “We share your concern about the Durban commemoration's timing and venue as just days earlier, we will have held solemn ten-year memorials for those murdered in the September 11 terrorist attacks.”
The letter said that the United States is “fully committed to upholding the human rights of all people and to combating racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance, and bigotry.”
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