Boycott the UN's racist farce
 

19/08/2011 
The Australian
– HYPERLINK http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/boycott-the-uns-racist-farce/story-e6frg71x-1226117706544 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/boycott-the-uns-racist-farce/story-e6frg71x-1226117706544

REGARDLESS of how badly it might set back the federal government's campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council, Australia has no alternative but to join other western nations in boycotting UNESCO's so-called anti-racism summit, Durban III, in New York next month. 
The US, Canada, Israel, Italy, Holland and the Czech Republic have already announced their intentions to stay away, for good reason. On paper, but only on paper, the aims of the first two conferences appeared laudable: eliminating racism and promoting tolerance. In reality, both degenerated into anti-Western, anti-semitic hatefests, tarnishing what little credibility the UN had managed to retain.
The initial conference in South Africa in 2001 produced a declaration falsely branding Israel a racist, apartheid state. The follow-up Geneva conference in 2009 was a bitter farce, treated to a 30-minute tirade of racist bile from the only head of state to attend -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He slandered Israel, the Middle East's only stable democracy, as the most cruel and racist regime created under the pretext of Jewish suffering in World War II.
Unfortunately, Durban III promises more of the same. Its draft declaration, already prepared, affirms the outcomes of the earlier conferences as the most comprehensive United Nations framework and solid foundation for combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. If members were serious they would start by renouncing the anti-semitism that pervaded the first two conferences.
Australia's democratic values, stability and constructive engagement with the world have given us a strength and status deserving of a UN Security Council seat. But with Libya on the UN Human Rights Council and North Korea taking its turn as chair of the UN Conference on Disarmament, it is obvious that democratic, civilised values often do not prevail in UN forums. Canada's bid for a Security Council seat was defeated last year, possibly because Canada's conservative government, which like Australia boycotted the 2009 Durban meeting, was regarded by Islamic nations voting en bloc as pro-Israel. Australia's quest for a Security Council seat is not worth the price of compromising any of our foreign policies.