An international boycott of a UN conference on racism was growing on Sunday night amid Western concerns that the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other Islamic leaders could use the meeting as a platform to attack Israel, question the reality of the Holocaust, or to try to limit the right to criticise religion.
Germany, Canada, Australia and The Netherlands have all joined the US and Israel in announcing their withdrawal from the Geneva conference. British officials said they still planned to attend, but would consult other European states overnight and reconsider their presence in light of what was said at the conference.
The flashpoint may come on Monday, on the first day of the conference, with an address and a press conference by Ahmadinejad, who has previously made comments calling into question the facts of the Holocaust and hosted a 2006 conference to review its history. The Iranian president’s speech today, on a rare visit to western Europe, comes on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, raising concerns that he will address the subject again.
The US said on Saturday that it would not be attending the conference because of what Washington said was ”objectionable” language in a draft statement. Australia joined the boycott on Sunday, citing similar concerns. The Geneva meeting is known as the Durban Review Conference because it is intended to follow up the World Conference Against Racism held in Durban eight years ago, when the US and Israel walked out in anger at attempts to equate Zionism with racism.
The draft statement for this week’s conference does not single out Israel, but formally upholds the 2001 declaration, which does. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said she was ”shocked and deeply disappointed” by the US boycott. On the Guardian‘s Comment is Free website today, Pillay concedes that the 2001 meeting has been ”tainted by the antisemitic behaviour of some NGOs on the sidelines”, but she argues that the best way to tackle such issues is to participate in this week’s meeting.
British officials say the current draft text is acceptable if ”adequate language” is included on the Holocaust and antisemitism, but they are also anxious to retain European solidarity.
Ahmadinejad’s speech and press conference will also be carefully scrutinised for his tone towards the US in the wake of Barack Obama’s recent overtures to Tehran. The Iranian president has ruled out compromise on Iran’s nuclear programme, but has occasionally raised hopes of a thaw in US-Iranian relations, as he did yesterday when he insisted that an Iranian-American journalist, sentenced by an Iranian court to eight years in prison on espionage charges, should be guaranteed the full right to defend herself in her appeal. – guardian.co.uk