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U.S. State Department Moves Gingerly On Durban II Conference Participation

By Howard M. Friedman

The Obama administration has decided to tread carefully on the controversial issue of whether the United States should participate in the Second UN World Conference Against Racism (known as the "Durban Review Conference" or "Durban II") scheduled for Geneva in April. The United States and Israel walked out of the first Conference, held in Durban in 2001, because of the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel focus of many participants. (Background.) Fearing a repeat, Canada and Israel both announced a year ago that they would not attend the 2009 Conference. (YNet News.)

U.S. participation has been uncertain. Last September, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Res. 1361 calling on the President and Secretary of State to defeat efforts to use Durban II to promote anti-Semitism. On Saturday, the U.S. State Department issued a release saying that it will send a delegation to the Feb. 16-19 preparatory meetings in order to assess whether U.S. participation in the Conference itself, or in further preparatory talks, is warranted. Yesterday ADL issued a release criticizing the decision of the Obama administration, saying that "the draft declaration under negotiation unfairly singles out Israel for condemnation and establishes what amounts to a global blasphemy code." AFP reported yesterday that the U.S. delegation began its work by suggesting a number of changes to the draft resolution being put together for April.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).