Never Forget Durban : AZ IMC

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER
2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL QUESTIONNAIRE
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that she would leave it to the next dSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that she would leave it to the next administration to determine if the U.S. would participate in the 2009 Durban Conference, a conference that Canada recently announced it would not attend given that the 2001 Durban Conference quickly degenerated into anti-American and anti-Israel hate-mongering. Would you cancel the participation of the United States at this year’s Conference?

SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON
The U.N.’s 2001 debacle in Durban must not be
allowed to repeat itself. No one will ever forget
how the world’s first Conference against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance made a mockery of its own effort
to banish the scourge of racism globally. I was
appalled when a meeting designed to condemn
racism became the forum for the distribution
of anti-Semitic cartoons, leaflets and other
demonstrations of naked hatred and bigotry against Jews.
As President, I pledge to resolutely fight all efforts to inject anti-
Semitism, hatred and discrimination onto the agenda of Durban II,
scheduled for 2009, and I call on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-
Moon, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and
heads of state from around the world to lend full force of their offices
to prevent that from happening. Particularly with Iran, now the global
seat of anti-Semitic rhetoric, on the organizing committee, the need for
vigilance and forceful action to redeem this conference is essential.
When I am President, the United States will lead a boycott of the
conference should current efforts to rein in the forces of hatred fail.
We must not accept, condone or participate in a conference that can
be hijacked by an agenda of hatred, and we must work strenuously to
ensure that our friends do not do so either. I applaud the strong redline
laid down by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who announced
that France would disengage from the Conference if the “excesses
and abuses” from 2001 return to the agenda of Durban II.
Non-governmental organizations also have a special responsibility
to resist efforts to pollute the NGO forum at Durban II. To prevent a
repeat of 2001, American philanthropic organizations must carefully
review the objectives of the NGOs they sponsor for the conference,
ensuring that none will come to Durban with pernicious agendas.
Respected human rights organizations participating in Durban II
should be prepared to swiftly and resolutely denounce any group that
allows hatred to infect the proceedings.
The U.N. is an essential arena for political debate among nations,
but we must not let it be misused as a forum for anti-Semitism or
incitement against any group. The credibility of the U.N. and its core
human rights machinery is at stake, and thus far the signs are pointing
in the wrong direction. We must not repeat the tragedy of the first
Durban conference, and now is the time to lay down clear markers
against such an outcome.

SENATOR JOHN McCAIN
“Yes. I strongly support effective, multilateral
diplomacy as a critical tool on our foreign policy
arsenal, but that does not extend to participation
in fatally flawed organizations or conferences that
only serve to attack America and our allies.”

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA
The 2001 Durban Conference did indeed
degenerate into an ugly display of anti-Israel
outrages. The issue of racism is an important one
that needs to be addressed, but it must be done
so responsibly. I would work to ensure that the
2009 Durban Conference is not led off the rails as
was its predecessor, and that would be the basis
for U.S. participation. If our efforts to keep the
conference on a responsible path are not working, and the conference planning committee is not cooperative, the U.S. will not participate.