TOP UN officials have slammed “a handful” of Western countries for boycotting a UN conference on racism as the meeting kicked off in Geneva on Monday.
One hundred and three countries are participating in the five-day Durban Review Conference, which aims to evaluate progress toward the goals set by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa in 2001.
But the United States has decided to boycott the conference, asserting that the draft final document contains “objectionable references” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the 2001 declaration, which equated zionism with racism.
As the conference began, Poland joined the US, Israel, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand in staying away from the meeting.
In his opening speech before thousands of ministers, diplomats and dignitaries, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon warned that racism “may be institutionalised, as the Holocaust will always remind us” and can also manifest itself more generally, “as anti-Semitism, for example, or the newer Islamophobia.”
Mr Ban warned that “today’s economic crisis, if not handled properly, could evolve into a full-scale political crisis marked by social unrest,” emphasising that, “in such circumstances, the consequences for communities already victimised by prejudice or exclusion could be frightening.”
Mr Ban went on to say that “some nations who by rights should be helping us to forge a path to a better future are not here.
“I deeply regret that some have chosen to stand aside – I hope they will not do so for long.”
UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay charged that “a handful of states have permitted one or two issues to dominate their approach to anti-racism, allowing them to outweigh the concerns of numerous groups of people that suffer racism on a daily basis all across the world.
“It is essential that they are discussed at a global level, however sensitive and difficult they may be,” Ms Pillay stressed.
“I fail to see why, given that the Middle East is not mentioned in this document, that politics related to the Middle East continue to intrude into the process,” she added.
Swiss human rights consultant Yves Lador suggested that some Western countries cannot bring themselves to acknowledge that “the problem of the colonial legacy is still here, still causing frustration and anger in the former colonies.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perceived in the formerly colonised countries as a continuation of colonisation,” Mr Lador said. “There is an identification with the Palestinians, whose territory was colonised by Israel.”
Some Western delegates walked out of the conference hall yesterday during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech, in which he described the Israeli government as “racist.”
Copyright Morning Star