New
York -
On
September 8, Diplomats agreed on a new “anti-racism” declaration that went public
a day later. The document is intended to be adopted by all the heads of state and government in attendance at the U.N. “Durban III” conference to be held in New York City on September 22.
The final sticking point in negotiations, conducted at U.N. headquarters over the last two months, was whether the original Durban Declaration adopted in 2001 in Durban, South Africa, would be reaffirmed. Passed just three days before 9/11, the Durban Declaration grossly discriminates against Israel — the only one of 192 UN members charged with racism in the
document. The document reads: “We heads of state and government … reaffirm our political commitment to the full and effective implementation of the Durban
Declaration.”
Islamic states and South Africa taunted the weakness of Western negotiators. South Africa said: “You say you want to commemorate the ten years of the existence of that document, but you don’t want to reaffirm it …
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, designated the new declaration as a contribution to the equal protection of human
rights, pointing to the language which related specifically to
Palestinians. The new declaration contains multiple references to the
victims of racism. The Durban Declaration itself refers to Palestinians as
victims of Israeli racism.
