Durban II Update

by Anne Bayefsky
National Review Online
April 7, 2009

http://www.legal-project.org/article/259

Excerpt:

 The festivities at the U.N. Durban II "anti-racism" planning meeting continued this afternoon in Geneva. The conference starts in two weeks, but the negotiations are already heated. Not surprisingly, the most active participants by a huge margin are the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference [OIC]. And right at the top of the OIC's star contributors — in a meeting to combat intolerance — is Iran. That's the country where homosexuality is a capital offence, women are stoned to death for alleged adultery, and whose president openly advocates the murder of 5 million Jews.

Iran made 13 suggestions about how the final declaration, to be adopted formally at the conference itself, could better protect human rights. And that bastion of civil rights Syria intervened to help draft a "human rights" declaration five times. By comparison, the Czech Republic, on behalf of the 27 members of the European Union, had something to say six times. When U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice gives speeches about the glories of being there, this what being there actually means. 

Iran introduced the idea of adding more protection for "cultural diversity." Iran also suggested a new paragraph concerned with "defamation of religions."  That's the alleged criticism of a religion, not concern with human rights.  The targets are anything religious fanatics think "project...negative, insulting and derogatory images of religions and religious personalities."  And by the way the concern is not with any religion, but "Islam in particular."  

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