US will boycott UN racism conference: officials

The United States has decided to boycott an international conference on racism scheduled for April unless the draft document is changed after it quit the previous session in 2001 on claims of anti-Semitism, U.S. officials said late Friday.

"We're not going to further engage in Durban II," a senior unnamed State Department official told AFP, referring to the conference scheduled for April 20-24 in Geneva.

A U.S. delegation took part in the preparatory talks in Geneva on Feb. 16 and made proposed changes to a resolution expected to be adopted at the conference, which Canada and Israel have said they would boycott.

US said draft gone "from bad to worse”

According to a statement issued by State Department spokesman Robert Wood later Friday, the "document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable.”

"As a result, the United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text," he said.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that a State Department official said the United States would reconsider its position only if the negotiators remove provisions deemed to censure Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands, recommend restrictions on the defamation of religions and a proposal by Islamic states that Washington said would weaken free speech. The United States also opposes any language requiring compensation for slavery.

The conference was first held in Durban, South Africa a few days before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, and against the backdrop of the second Palestinian intifada.

Israel and the United States walked out on the fourth day of the conference in protest against attempts by Arab nations to adopt a resolution that equates Zionism with racism.

This year’s conference is to review progress on the declaration from the 2001 conference, named the World Summit Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

The previous team of George W. Bush had said last year it would not assist in the preparatory discussions, but new President Barack Obama's administration sent a delegation to look at whether its participation is warranted.

As a result, the United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text

Robert Wood

Changing the summit agenda

"The intent of our participation is to work to try to change the direction in which the Review Conference is heading," according to a U.S. statement issued earlier this month.

A second unnamed U.S. official said that his government had tried to find a way to participate. "We made an honest effort," the official said.

The second U.S. official said the United States had been interested in a document that was shorter than the one eight years ago and would not single out a particular country.

"We would be prepared to consider a document that contains an affirmative approach to race and laid out a positive vision for tackling the challenges," the official said.

"It would not reaffirm the elements of the 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA), would not contain specific references to any one country or a single conflict," according to the official.

The document "would not reference to the problematic concept of defamation of religion, and would not go further than the DDPA on the issue of reparations for slavery," the official added.

The Conference of Presidents, an umbrella group of more than 50 Jewish organizations, applauded the U.S. move. "It was clear from the preparatory meetings that this conference was again being hijacked by those who want to have a repetition of the first Durban conference, which focused almost singularly on Israel and was the occasion for vile and bigoted declarations and manifestations," it said in a statement.

"It is our hope that the European countries will follow suit and announce that they will not participate."

The United Jewish Communities also hailed the decision. "President Obama is absolutely correct in refusing to participate in this sham," it said.

The intent of our participation is to work to try to change the direction in which the Review Conference is heading

U.S. statement