New Zealand joins boycott of UN racism meet 

04/20/2009
Agence France-Presse
Original source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20090420-200341/New-Zealand-joins-boycott-of-UN-racism-meet

WELLINGTON -- New Zealand will join a boycott of a UN racism conference because it risks becoming a rancorous and unproductive debate, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Monday.
New Zealand has joined a number of countries including the United States, http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20090420-200341/New-Zealand-joins-boycott-of-UN-racism-meet \t _blank, Canada, Israel, Italy, and the Netherlands in deciding not to go to the five-day Durban Review Conference in Geneva.
McCully said the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20090420-200341/New-Zealand-joins-boycott-of-UN-racism-meet \t _blank South Africa, seven years ago was extremely contentious.
It gave rise to expressions of anti-Israeli views which undermined its focus on genuine anti-racism initiatives, McCully said in a statement.
He said New Zealand had earlier decided it would only take part if the draft outcome document did not endorse the Durban declaration and avoided limiting freedom of speech.
I am not satisfied that the wording emerging from preparatory discussions will prevent the review conference from descending into the same kind of rancorous and unproductive debate that took place in 2001.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Geneva on Sunday, one of the few heads of state attending.
Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and questioned the Holocaust as a myth, was due to address the gathering later Monday.
Germany said Sunday it would not attend the early part of the conference, although may join in later in the week.
The Geneva meeting is meant to take stock of progress in fighting racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance since the Durban conference eight years ago.