Zes landen boycotten VN anti-racisme conferentie Durban II

 

Citaat van de Volkskrant vandaag:

 

'De conferentie tegen racisme is te belangrijk om te laten misbruiken voor politieke doeleinden en aanvallen op het Westen,' aldus Verhagen zondag. 'Daar doet Nederland niet aan mee.'

 

Verhagen noemt de slotverklaring die op tafel ligt onaanvaardbaar en een gemiste kans. 'Een aantal landen die zelf nog heel wat te doen hebben op het gebied van mensenrechten, misbruikt de top om religie boven de rechten van de mens te stellen en de vrijheid van meningsuiting onnodig in te perken, discriminatie op grond van seksuele geaardheid te negeren, en impliciet Israël als enige land in de beklaagdenbank te zetten', zegt Verhagen zondag in een verklaring van zijn ministerie.
Nederland heeft diverse keren zonder succes geprobeerd alternatieve teksten in de verklaring te krijgen. Desondanks bleef de sfeer 'grimmig' en waren westerse landen 'doelwit van politieke aanvallen.' Buitenlandse Zaken denkt niet dat de conferentie 'werkelijk kan bijdragen aan de bestrijding van racisme'.

 

Het lijkt erop dat Nederland en Italië (hieronder niet genoemd) de enige landen in de EU zijn die de conferentie boycotten, samen met Israël, de VS, Canada en Australië. Een moedig standpunt en een duidelijk signaal. Je zou hopen dat het ook Merkel te ver zou gaan om op de geboortedag van Hitler naar een speech van Achmadinejad te luisteren, maar dat is wellicht wishful thinking. Groot-Brittanië had vorige maand ook met een boycot gedreigd.

 

RP

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Western nations boycott UN anti-racism conference
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hCmRn2a6bKuhj4YkInMNyLbrPMzA
2 hours ago

 

 

GENEVA (AFP) — A UN conference on racism was hit by new boycotts by Western nations on Sunday amid concerns that the meeting will serve as a platform against Israel, which called it a "tragic farce".

 

The outlook for Geneva conference, which starts Monday, was also thrown into doubt by the prospect of an opening day speech by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has stirred outrage by repeatedly calling the Holocaust a "myth".

 

Australia and the Netherlands joined the United States, Canada and Israel in boycotting the five-day Durban Review Conference, which is meant to take stock of progress in fighting racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.

 

"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.

 

Most European Union nations were still mulling their presence in Geneva, diplomats said, but the Netherlands broke ranks on Sunday and said it would not attend because it feared the event would be abused.

 

"The conference is too important for it to be abused for political ends and attacks on the West," Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen said in a statement. "The Netherlands will not be a party to that."

 

Calling the UN meeting a "tragic farce," Israeli foreign ministry spokeman 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."

 

On Friday, negotiators for Western and Muslim states in Geneva had agreed on a draft declaration that they believed had ironed out the most controversial issues relating to religious discrimination, Israel and the Middle East.

 

But those efforts after months of controversy proved insufficient, leading to an even bigger walkout than the one by the United States and Israel at the landmark World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

 

US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said that while significant progress had been made, the latest text still reaffirmed unacceptable parts of the 2001 declaration and infringed on freedom of speech.

 

"Therefore, with regret, the United States will not join the review conference," he said in a statement late Saturday.

 

US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch slammed the growing Western boycott.

"These countries are turning their backs on the victims of racism and are gravely endangering the UN's work against racism," HRW spokeswoman Juliette de Rivero told AFP.

 

Other human rights groups on Sunday challenged Ahmadinejad to eliminate severe discrimination in Iran.

 

The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), the Baha'i International Community (BIC) and the Iranian League for Human Rights (LDDHI) said he must tackle discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, women, and halt incitement to hatred.

 

"By coming to the Durban Review Conference, President Ahmadinejad signals a commitment to the conference's goals of eliminating all forms of discrimination and intolerance," said Diane Ala'i, the BIC's representative at the UN in Geneva.

 

"His first move on returning home, then, should be to address the severe discrimination and persecution that have flourished under his tenure," she added.

 

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