Canada Abandons UN Racism Conference
January 23, 2008
The Associated Press
Original Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzBJ3YmTLoCiEIisMtb-XUOipaEAD8UBSVPG2
OTTAWA (AP) — Canada has withdrawn its support for a U.N. anti-racism conference scheduled to take place in South Africa next year after deeming it to be anti-Israel, a government official said Wednesday.
The so-called Durban II conference has gone completely off the rails and Canada wants no part of it, said Jason Kenney, Canada's secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity.
We'll attend any conference that is opposed to racism and intolerance, not those that actually promote racism and intolerance, he said.
Kenney said that during the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, Arab and Muslim countries criticized Israel, prompting Israel and the United States to walk out in protest. But he added that Canada remained to speak up for Israel.
The U.N. declined to comment directly on Canada pulling out of the conference, but U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said racism is too important an issue for member states not to work out their differences.
Kenney said his government was left with no choice but to abandon the process, expressing displeasure with Libya elected to chair the gathering, Cuba appointed vice-chair, and Iran named to the organizing committee.
This (Iran) is a country whose government has publicly expressed its desire to eliminate the only Jewish country in the world, he said.