Britain, France, Poland and New Zealand became the latest countries to announce that it will not participate in a United Nations gathering in New York this week to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Durban World Conference against Racism,was marred by anti-Semitism and open hostility toward Israel. The United States and Israel then walked out to protest against the tone of the meeting.
"This conference gave rise to an unacceptable diversion of the principles and commitments in the fight against racism. For this reason, and as pointed out by several of its European Union partners, France considers that it has not to participate in the commemoration of this event," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding: "France reaffirms its commitment to the universality of human rights and its determination to fight against racism. France is committed to the pursuit of collective efforts in the UN and the various international fora to effectively fight against all forms of racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racial discrimination."
.jpg)
Several other countries including the United States, Israel, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Australia, had already announced their intention not to attend the 'Durban III' at the UN in New York later this week. France had participated in the 2009 Durban Review Conference ('Durban II') in Geneva, but its representatives left the room along with 23 delegations of the European Union during a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called the state of Israel "totally racist".
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully declared: “We remain concerned that the commemoration of the 2001 Durban Declaration could reopen the offensive and anti-Semitic debates which undermined the original World Conference. For these reasons, we have decided not to participate. New Zealand is fully committed to combating racism and we agree the UN should lead discussions on the elimination of racism. That is why we engaged constructively in the preparatory discussions in New York. However, in the end, the text is not one that we could support,” McCully said.
Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Durban I had seen “open displays” of “deplorable anti-Semitism,” and it would be “wrong” to participate in such events. “That’s why the UK will play no part in this conference,” Cameron said. Poland, which is currently holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, also said it would not take part in the event. Tad Taube, honorary consul of Poland in the San Francisco Bay Area, told JTA that the Polish government had withdrawn its participation in the event. However, the European Union has failed to find a common position on participation in the event, with Denmark, Finland and Romania saying that they intend to attend the racism parley.
