Western nations boycott UN anti-racism conference

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GENEVA, April 19 (AFP): A UN conference on racism was hit by new boycotts by Western nations Sunday amid concerns that the meeting will serve as a platform against Israel, which called it a "tragic farce".
The outlook for Geneva conference, which starts Monday, was also thrown into doubt by the prospect of an opening day speech by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has stirred outrage by repeatedly calling the Holocaust a "myth".
Australia and the Netherlands joined the United States, Canada and Israel in boycotting the five-day Durban Review Conference, which is meant to take stock of progress in fighting racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.
"Regrettably, we cannot be confident that the review conference will not again be used as a platform to air offensive views, including anti-Semitic views," Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith said in a statement.
Most European Union nations were still mulling their presence in Geneva, diplomats said, but the Netherlands broke ranks on Sunday and said it would not attend because it feared the event would be abused.
Calling the UN meeting a "tragic farce," Israeli foreign ministry spokeman Yossi Levy said: "Officially it is aimed at denouncing racism, but it has invited a Holocaust denier who has called for the destruction of Israel."
On Friday, negotiators for Western and Muslim states in Geneva had agreed on a draft declaration that they believed had ironed out the most controversial issues relating to religious discrimination, Israel and the Middle East.