NEW YORK (Press Releases)—Jewish groups have urged nations to boycott the special session of the United Nations general assembly that has become known as Durban III. Here are their statements:
American Jewish Committee: AJC expressed profound regret that the UN General Assembly voted to convene a special meeting next year commemorating the tenth anniversary of the discredited Durban conference on racism. The world gathering is slated to take place at the UN in New York in September, just days after the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York City and Washington, DC.
“The global campaign against racism has been hijacked by countries that have little regard for human rights and whose primary goal is to advance highly political agendas,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “To bring this traveling show of hatred to New York is scandalous and will not advance the noble UN mission of defending and protecting human rights.”
AJC, the global advocacy organization, had urged governments around the world to reject the proposed “Durban 3” meeting. The resolution to hold it next year was adopted by a vote of 104 to 22, with 33 abstaining.
The original Durban conference, held in 2001 in South Africa, became a forum to attack Israel. That singular focus eclipsed discussions and action on the problems, many of them severe human rights violations, of bigotry and racism elsewhere around the world.
The Durban Review Conference, held in Geneva last year, reaffirmed the contentious final documents of the 2001 conference and, at the insistence of Muslim states, introduced the concept of “defamation of religions,” a euphemism for the curtailment of freedom of speech, a fundamental human right and an essential component of democracy.
Ten countries, including the United States and Israel, did not attend the 2009 Review Conference. The U.S. delegation walked out of the 2001 conference amid an outpouring of anti-American, anti-Western and anti-Semitic rhetoric – most heatedly in a UN-sponsored companion forum for non-governmental organizations.
“AJC has long been a pioneer in combating hatred and racism worldwide, and we have been proud supporters of the UN since its founding,” said Harris. “But the sponsors of the Durban conferences are not in sync with the UN mission, and they do not seek to advance the cause of the struggle against racism. Instead, they will do whatever they can to promote harmful political agendas.”
*
Anti-Defamation League: The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is calling on United Nations member states to declare that they will not participate in the so-called “Durban III” conference, set to be held in New York in September 2011, calling the proceedings “a conference that will undermine rather than advance the fight against discrimination.”
The U.N. General Assembly early this morning passed a resolution approving the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the infamous 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism, which was marred by anti-Semitism and extreme anti-Israel sentiment. The vote was 104 in favor, 22 against, with 33 abstentions.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
We call on governments to announce that they will not participate in a conference that undermines rather than advances the fight against discrimination.
At its very inception in 2001, the Durban process was tainted by the very bias it purported to work against. In the official conference, as well as the associated NGO gathering, Durban marked the start of a new chapter in the vilification and delegitimization of the state of Israel and the Jewish people. We recall how many abused the conference as a platform to turn the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a racial conflict and their incendiary branding of Israel as an apartheid state.
It is indeed vital for all of us to focus on what U.N. member states have done to fight racism and intolerance and to do so in a worthy forum. Thus, responsible nations must take a stand against racism and demonstrate leadership in this fight by disassociating from the Durban process and the September 2011 Durban III conference.
We express our appreciation to Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, the Netherlands, Palau, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom, and the United States for voting against the resolution. We are disappointed with the numerous countries, including Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary and Spain, who chose to abstain.
The Durban Declaration and Program of Action adopted by the 2001 Durban Conference singled out the “plight of the Palestinian people under occupation,” thereby focusing on one regional conflict for discussion in a biased way, and wrongly branded Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as racism. The April 2009 U.N. Durban Review Conference Against Racism (Durban II) embraced and affirmed the controversial Declaration. The resolution and the Durban III resolution clearly and repeatedly will follow the same course.
*
B’nai B’rith International: B’nai B’rith International condemns the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of a resolution commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism. That event, in Durban, South Africa, was a forum overshadowed by rabid anti-Israel sentiment and deserves to be remembered as embodying the worst aspects of the United Nations.
The vote results included 104 nations in favor of the resolution, 22 against, and 33 abstentions.
B’nai B’rith International commends those nations voting against the commemoration: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Netherlands, Palau, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Particularly disappointing was the near unanimous bloc of Latin American nations voting in favor of the resolution.
The proposal to celebrate the original Durban conference has been championed by Arab and other largely non-democratic states, many with records characterized by mistreatment of minorities that have used their collective numbers to push through many anti-Israel resolutions at the world body. Though it is now only in its early planning stages, the Durban commemoration has been scheduled for a time when world leaders are expected in New York in September 2011, and just after the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
“It is tragic that more nations don’t publicly recognize and condemn Durban as the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish free-for-all it truly was,” B’nai B’rith International President Dennis W. Glick said. “Our delegates joined other non-governmental organizations in walking out of the conference in 2000 and again during Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel diatribe during the 2009 Durban Review Conference in Geneva. The prospects for anything positive to take place at a 10-year commemoration are no better.”
The 2001 World Conference Against Racism, with its Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), implied that Israel alone is a racist nation. Even worse than the U.N. proceedings were the NGO forum and street scenes that saw horrific expressions of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
“The original Durban conference attempted to validate the perverse theory that Zionism is racism,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “Durban’s legacy of hate, intolerance, and double standards should never be forgotten, and should certainly never be celebrated.”
Following the proposal to commemorate Durban, Canada was the first country to unequivocally state it would not attend such an event. B’nai B’rith is calling on all countries not to participate in “Durban III.”
Active at the U.N. since it was founded, B’nai B’rith closely monitors events at the world body.
*
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations: The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called on the United States and other countries to follow the lead of Canada and Israel in declaring they will not participate in the 2011 celebration of ‘Durban I,’ which the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to be held this coming September, on the second day of the General Assembly’s sixty-sixth session.
On Friday, December 24th, the General Assembly adopted a resolution, by a vote of 104 to 22, with 33 abstentions, to hold a one-day high-level meeting during the opening of the General Assembly to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 2001 Durban conference.
“The vote of the UN General Assembly, while not unexpected, sets the stage for a celebration of the outrageous events that took place during Durban I, which were permeated by manifestations of bigotry and hatred. The event is scheduled to be held shortly after the 10th anniversary commemoration of September 11th. It is hard to imagine a more insensitive action, recalling that the attack on the World Trade Center that killed thousands was carried out by those influenced by the same hateful ideologies that Durban I came to represent,” said Conference of Presidents Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.
“We salute Canada for its decision early on not to participate in this event, which is mandated to be a commemoration of the 2001 conference. That conference violated the lofty goals for which it was created. We thank the 20 other countries that sided with Israel and voted against this resolution, including the United States and the United Kingdom. We urge all countries to join Canada and Israel in publicly declaring that they will not participate in this event, so as to make clear that the hatred, bigotry and racism against America and the West and the international campaign to undermine Israel that was launched at the Durban I conference will not be tolerated. Those countries that walked out on Durban I can certainly not participate in an event that celebrates it,” the leaders said.
*
Preceding provided by each of the quoted Jewish organizations