The Vatican has said that it will attend the controversial UN anti-racism conference in Geneva next month (‘Durban Review Conference’, or ‘Durban II’) but hoped for a change in the wording of its final declaration."People go to conferences to discuss and debate," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency. He added: "That doesn't mean we agree with the draft text of the final declaration as it is now." Both Italy and the United States have said that they will not attend unless the wording of a document they consider hostile to Israel is altered before the gathering starts. Lombardi said the Vatican's representative in Geneva had "made it clear that the Vatican is opposed to all forms of discrimination, whether it is against an individual, a religion or a state." The Vatican has permanent observer status at the United Nations, but is not a member state.
Meanwhile, Australia's opposition has accused the government of being prepared to trade its principles for African support of its bid for a seat on the UN Security Council. "The strategy should not be to win a seat at any cost, either financially or by compromising our principles, and we should not get into the business of trading our principles to win support," opposition foreign policy spokeswoman Julie Bishop told public radio. Bishop cited as an example Australia's planned attendance at the Durban Review Conference in Geneva next month despite the withdrawal of the United States, Canada, Israel and Italy. "The perception is growing that [prime minister Kevin] Rudd will be using our attendance at this conference to appease countries whose vote he's seeking to get, so we get a seat on the Security Council," Bishop said.
See the WJC feature on the Durban Review Conference
