European group to EU states: Boycott Durban II
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The European Jewish Congress called on the European Union Presidency and EU states to boycott an upcoming anti-racism conference.
In the call to boycott next month’s Durban II conference, EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor said Tuesday in a statement, “Based upon the important efforts and statements made by European leaders to stamp out the scourge of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism, there is simply no alternative other than a boycott of Durban II by the EU Presidency and EU nations.”
The chief planners for April’s United Nations-sponsored conference in Geneva are a 20-member panel that is chaired by Libya and includes countries ranked among the worst offenders of human rights, among them Iran, Pakistan and Cuba.
"It is nothing short of a Kafka-esque scenario when some of the world’s worst human rights abusers are not only let off the hook, but chair an international conference on the issue,” Kantor said.
Holocaust denial is set to have a prominent place at the conference, according to Kantor.
The United States, Canada and Israel have already said they will boycott the conference.
The conference is a follow-up to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, that featured rampant anti-Jewish and anti-Israel vitriol.
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