America.gov (Washington, DC)
David McKeeby
2 March 2009
The United States will not participate in an upcoming U.N. conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on racism unless the conference officials make major revisions to a key document that critics argue unfairly singles out Israel for criticism and that could erode the fundamental right to freedom of speech.
"A conference based on this text would be a missed opportunity to speak clearly about the persistent problem of racism," State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood said February 27. "The United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text."
The announcement follows negotiations in Geneva over an outcome document for the April 20-24 Durban Review Conference, organized to review progress since the 2001 World Summit Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa.
U.N. officials have hoped that the Obama administration would participate in the April conference, saying the election of the first African-American president presents the United States with an opportunity to highlight U.S. progress in race relations in recent decades.
The Obama administration sent a diplomatic delegation to Geneva to take part in planning for the conference, America's first engagement in the process since U.S. officials walked out of the 2001 conference in protest over the Durban Declaration and Program of Action. The document strongly criticized Israel's conduct in its relations with the Palestinians as so-called "racism" while ignoring numerous other cases of serious rights abuses around the world -- a position which the United States could not support.
"Unfortunately," Wood said, "the document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable."
Wood called on conference organizers to shorten the current 45-page draft and reconsider its reiteration of what he called the "flawed" Durban declaration. To win U.S. support, the document must not isolate any one country or conflict, Wood said. A "viable text" must also move away from endorsing the "troubling" concept of "defamation of religion." Supporters of the defamation of religion language say it is intended to protect cultural sensitivities. But the United States and a growing number of other countries fear the language could be used to silence political dissent and undermine freedom of speech.
Israel and Canada plan to boycott the April conference, while several other countries, including Australia, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have shared America's concerns about the tone of the proceedings.
"We would be prepared to re-engage if a document that meets these criteria becomes the basis for deliberations," Wood said. "This administration is committed to diplomacy and to active and effective engagement with international institutions, which can play a vital role in addressing the challenges we face."
The United States will maintain its observer status in the U.N. Human Rights Council, Wood said, despite the body's "repeated and unbalanced criticisms of Israel."
"We share the concerns of many that the council's trajectory is disturbing, that it needs fundamental change to do more to promote and protect the human rights of people around the world," Wood said. "We believe, however, it furthers our interests and will do more both to achieve these ends and advance human rights if we are part of the conversation and present at the council's proceedings."
Created in 2006 to replace the discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the council has been widely criticized for its repeated refusal to take action against documented abuses in Zimbabwe, North Korea, Iran, Belarus and Cuba. (See "Human Rights Report Sees Worldwide Demand for Greater Freedom")
"These times demand seriousness and candor, and we pledge to closely work with our partners in the international community to avoid politicization and to achieve our shared goals," Wood said. "Our participation as an observer is a sign of the commitment of the administration to advancing the cause of human rights in the multilateral arena."
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" .. that critics argue .."
We assume that the "critics" are jews.
And what jews want of the USA, the jews get. .
The Arabs/Palestinians do not hold a similar sway over the USA. Are Palestinian "critics" going to prevail upon the USA to reconsider its stand? Not likely.
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Neither do the Africans. Would African "critics prevail upon the USA on any topic - say the plunder of Africa by western companies, the human trafficking of Africa's children into sex slavery in USA and Europe, or the economic sanctions that have killed multitudes and created… [Read Full Text]