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RIGHTS: Racism Conference Caught in the Crossfire
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, Apr 20 (IPS) - The United Nations racism conference, trapped from its rocky start between the caution of Western countries and the inflamed speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, could still avoid failure, say independent experts.
Referring to the Iranian leader’s opening speech at the five-day conference, Amnesty International representative in Geneva Peter Splinter told IPS that "it was an unfortunate start but I don't think that it should do damage."
Before the Durban Review Conference began Monday in Geneva, at least nine influential countries already planned to boycott the meeting.
Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and the United States have stayed away, over differences with the draft final declaration or because of the participation of the Iranian president, who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust.
Ahmadinejad was the only head of state or government to accept U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s invitation to speak at the conference.
The worries expressed by diplomats as to what effects his speech would have were borne out in the end.
Referring to the situation in the Middle East, the Iranian leader said that "on the pretext of Jewish suffering," after World War II the world’s powerful countries "sent migrants from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in occupied Palestine."
Before he continued in the same vein, mainly lashing out at Israel and Zionism, the representatives of the European Union countries taking part in the conference stood up and walked out. They did not return until Ahmadinejad had finished speaking.
Diplomatic sources reported shortly afterwards that the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, had also decided to boycott the meeting.
U.N. security escorted out of the building 11 people involved in incidents during the Iranian leader’s speech, including Muslim and Jewish activists and a reporter, according to a U.N. source, who said action would be taken against the groups responsible for the incidents.
After the speech, which was criticised by both Ban and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the conference continued as normal.
Sources from the high commissioner’s office said there would be an attempt to keep intact the draft declaration adopted by consensus last Friday. The document had been the target of objections by countries that boycotted the conference, the United States in particular.
Gianfranco Fattorini, representative in Geneva of the Paris-based Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Among Peoples (MRAP), criticised the countries that walked out of the conference, saying that it wasn’t the conference, but the countries whose delegates walked out, that lost strength by such a move.
By doing so, they are leaving an opening for extreme positions, he told IPS, adding "it is a mistake."
Fattorini said the position taken by the United States "is logical" because it is coherent with the stance it took at the 2001 World Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa, where the delegations from the United States and Israel both walked out.
The United States has now refused to take part in the follow-up meeting because the first paragraph of the draft declaration "reaffirms" the Durban declaration and programme of action, which the United States never accepted, the MRAP activist said.
What does not make sense, Fattorini argued, is that countries that took part in the Durban conference and accepted the commitments adopted there are now trying to convince other nations to pull out of the follow-up meeting.
Splinter, meanwhile, said "It was not a fortunate way to start the conference, to have someone up there basically inciting hatred and discrimination.
"But the highlight of the day for me was the Norwegian (Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre) who came and said: Fine, the president of Iran had his say. I disagree totally with him. His incitement to discrimination and hate has no place in this conference. And this is what the conference should be about."
The minister spoke immediately after Ahmadinejad.
"That's what needs to be done," said Splinter. "Not to withdraw from the conference, but to engage, and to challenge, and to reject the types of remarks that we heard the Iranian president say today."
The Amnesty representative said "I hope that the delegations will all remain engaged and ensure that the outcome document agreed last Friday" is approved. "I think it will be adopted provided we don't have any more desertions of the vote," he added.
"It's a very weak document, but it's not objectionable; it forms an acceptable outcome for this conference," said the activist.
He added, nevertheless, that "we would like to see a much more action-oriented and much more concrete" document.
Adrien-Claude Zoller, president of the NGO Geneva for Human Rights, said the Iranian leader "managed to restore the credibility of the conference."
With respect to the Western nations that boycotted the conference, he said "it was a provocation, to give the impression that this meeting was not worth it."
Zoller believes the conference should continue, although "it would be best to make a pause."
(END/2009)
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