The outcome document of the controversial UN conference on racism in Geneva was adopted by consensus three days ahead of the closing of the Durban Review Conference. In a surprise development, the delegates approved the document a day after Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blasted Israel as a "most cruel and repressive regime," prompting a walkout by the European delegations and condemnation by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The document was scheduled to be adopted on Friday, but delegates moved quickly to embrace it.
The text opens by reaffirming the 2001 Durban outcome document, which was a sticking point for both the United States and Israeli governments to boycott the conference, as under the heading of "victims of racism," the original document had noted "the plight of the Palestinian people", seen as accusing Israel of state-sponsored racism. While the 2009 document does not mention either Israel or the Palestinians, paragraph 66 "recalls that the Holocaust must never be forgotten" and calls for countries to implement UN resolutions related to Holocaust commemoration.
Michael Schneider, secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, said on the future of the Durban review process: "The United Nations should extract from this conference all issues dealing with genuine forms of racism and xenophobia and not certain political issues. It should rather develop smaller conferences relating to those specific issues, many of which were enumerated by the different speakers in Geneva this week. During the such smaller meetings, workable, measurable and effective instruments that can improve the situation of persons suffering from racism could be adopted."
Mike Whine of the European Jewish Congress commented: "The Durban conferences have been marred by attempts to impose the Israel-Palestine issue in a forum where it does not belong. The UN has yet to address the problems of slavery and racism in any meaningful fashion. We trust that the United Nations will learn a lesson from this conference. We came to Geneva hoping to make some contribution to the fight against racism, and to create alliances with others involved in this cause. Instead, we spent too much of our time and energy dealing with the hateful diatribe of the President of Iran."
Speaking on behalf of the Jewish Human Rights Coalition – UK, Jeremy Newmark declared: "Durban II has been a huge embarrassment for the UN and most importantly has failed to do what it was constructed to do, which is monitor and review the progress of the implementation of the UN’s program to tackle racism and discrimination worldwide. The clear lesson to be drawn is that instead of a Durban III, if the UN is to have any credibility in the fight against racism it must regain the confidence of civil society, experts and practitioners by developing forums that cannot be politically hijacked in this way."
Israel is grateful to the Czech Republic, the current president of the European Union, for leaving the UN conference in Geneva after Ahmadinejad's speech, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said after meeting his Czech counterpart Mirek Topolanek.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said it had expelled two Jewish and one Iranian groups from the conference over what UN officials called unacceptable behavior connected with the appearance of Iranian president Ahmadinajad. The groups whose passes were withdrawn are the French Union of Jewish Students, Coexist, and the Neda Institute for Political and Scientific Research, said UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville. He said that members of the first two groups had been involved in disrupting Ahmadinejad's speech, which was largely a vicious attack on Israel.
The Neda Institute from Iran distributed inflammatory material to meeting participants, Colville said. He gave no details about the material from the pro-government Iranian group.
See the WJC feature on the Durban Review Conference
