Johannesburg | Monday
THE United States risked appearing indifferent about racism if it were to boycott the upcoming United Nations conference on the subject, South Africa’s director general of foreign affairs said on Sunday.
“If they don’t come, people will read into it that they don’t see the issues as important. It will send a signal to their own constituencies and the rest of the world,” Sipho Pityana told the SAPA news agency.
Washington last week threatened to boycott the World Conference Against Racism if its agenda included talk of reparations for slavery and colonialism or a measure equating Zionism with racism.
Pityana said though South Africa was hosting the conference it was not its job to persuade countries to take part.
“It’s not for us as South Africa to persuade anyone to come. We are providing a venue and hosting the conference.” Pityana was speaking from Geneva where final negotiations on a draft declaration and programme of action to be adopted at the end of the conference will be held this week.
He said South Africa is trying to fulfill a UN resolution that the conference focus on “noticeable incidents of racism in the world.”
“In doing that we would like to have everybody involved in that process,” he added.
“There are problems of racism in the United States, in Europe, in South Africa and other parts of the world. What level of delegation and what decisions different countries take will project the way they view the issues around the congress.
Washington has skipped the two previous UN conferences against racism, in 1978 and 1983, because of the Zionism clause.
Britain, France and Germany have also objected to slavery being addressed at this year’s conference.
Whether the two issues remain on the agenda will depend on the outcome of the talks in Geneva.
Pityana said the South African delegation would spend “quite a lot of our time engaging key delegations” including those from United States, the European Union and Asia, which was responsible for putting Zionism on the agenda.
“We have a sense of where we are likely to find each other and where we are not,” he added.
The conference is to be held in Durban on South Africa’s east coast from August 31 to September 7. Delegations from 194 countries are expected to attend. – AFP