By AFRO Staff
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The U.S. has not decided whether to participate in the UN Conference on Racism.
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(February 18, 2009) - The Obama administration announced it would participate in the planning of a United Nations conference on racism, despite concerns that the meeting will promote criticism of Israel by Arab nations, the Associated Press reported.
The U.S. will decide later whether to participate in the conference. The State Department said the U.S. delegation would review “current direction of conference preparations and whether U.S. participation in the conference itself is warranted.”
To determine the extent of the United State’s involvement, the State Department said it would send diplomats to participate in preparatory meetings for the World Conference Against Racism, held in Geneva, Switzerland, and which some countries including Israel have begun to boycott.
Canadian officials also announced the country will not participate in the conference, claiming it will promote racism.
America has had a turbulent history with the World Conference Against Racism, after the United States and Israel walked out of the first conference, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 over efforts to pass a resolution comparing zionism---the campaign to establish a Jewish state--- to racism.
The State Department said this year’s conference will be “the first opportunity the (Obama) administration has had to engage in the negotiations for the Durban Review…”