The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made international headlines when he addressed the UN Conference against Racism on Monday, 20th April, in the name of the Muslim god, saying that Israelis are ‘racist perpetrators of genocide’ and that:
by exploiting the holocaust and under the pretext of protecting the Jews they [Western nations] made a nation homeless with military expeditions and invasion.... They established a completely racist government in the occupied Palestinian territories. And in fact, under the pretext of making up for damages resulting from racism in Europe, they established the most aggressive, racist country in another territory, i.e. Palestine.
His speech was given on the 120th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth and a day before Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. He received a rapturous reception on his return to Iran the following day.
The conference was arranged to review the UN’s World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban in 2001. This week’s 5-day conference has therefore come to be known as the ‘Durban Review Conference’ or ‘Durban II’, despite the fact that it was held in Geneva.
The United States, along with Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Poland decided to boycott the conference in advance, as they expected a repeat of the first Durban conference, which, according to the Daily Telegraph, ‘was an exercise in anti-Semitic racism directed at Israel.’ The United States and Israel had left that conference halfway through and Arab countries tried to define ‘Zionism’ as ‘racism’.
Concerned voices, including that of Daniel Ayalon, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Israel, called on ‘all democratic nations’, including Britain, to boycott Durban II. The British delegation said that the draft of the Outcome Document would be acceptable if ‘adequate language’ was used regarding the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, but they were anxious to present a common front with other European leaders.
In the event, protesters were ejected from the conference near the beginning of Ahmadinejad’s speech after throwing a red nose at him and calling him a ‘racist’, whilst delegates from over 30 countries walked out after the President called Israel the ‘most cruel and repressive racist regime.’ 375 delegates from various advocacy groups were expelled by the UN, along with Iranian delegates who were disrupting the proceedings with their cheering.
Britain and the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU Presidency, were amongst those who walked out, whilst France joined them calling the tirade ‘hate speech’ and then came back, saying it was optimistic that the UN would move on and approve a declaration by tonight committing the world to fight racism. British Ambassador, Peter Gooderham, said ‘such inflammatory rhetoric has no place whatsoever in a United Nations conference addressing the whole issue of racism and how to address it.’ He went on to ‘unreservedly condemn’ the charge of racism against Israel. The United States called the allegations made by the Iranian President ‘vile’.
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, was ‘very regretful’ that the Iranian President had ‘misused’ the conference for political purposes. He also said Mr Ahmadinejad had used his speech ‘to accuse, divide and even incite.’ UN spokesman Rupert Colville admitted that ‘In the drama of yesterday everyone forgot what the conference is actually about’, but the UN has since tried to rally nations against racism.
The conference’s programme of action includes references to ‘Islamophobia’, (a term that is commonly used to condemn and restrict criticism of Islam), but excludes any reference to the racist atrocities perpetrated by Islamic militias in East Africa. The draft Outcome Document for Durban II does not mention or criticise Israel, but formally upholds the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action from the 2001 conference, which does. The final document will not be enforceable, but would be likely to put pressure on nations to comply.
More worryingly, the Document tries to introduce the concept of ‘incitement to religious hatred’, an offence that could be drafted so as to prohibit criticism of other faiths. A criminal offence by this name was introduced into UK law by the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, but thankfully it was tempered by a free speech clause. Of most concern is that there has been a concerted effort, led by the 57 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), to place ‘defamation of religion’ at the very heart of the discussions at the conference.
‘Defamation of religion’ is another dangerous Islamist invention that would prohibit any criticism of any religion. This would mean in practice that Christians could not say ‘Jesus is the Son of God’, much less say that Muhammad was a false prophet, because Muslims consider these statements to be blasphemy.
The Human Rights Commission (and now its replacement body, the Human Rights Council) has been tabling resolutions on ‘combating the defamation of religion’ every year since 1999. These resolutions have passed every time, usually by a significant majority. Even more significantly, the same resolution has been passed at the General Assembly the last four years running, most recently on 26th March. These resolutions are not legally binding on national Governments, but they do pave the way for the idea to be accepted by national Governments in international treaties in the future. This raises the prospect of the UK Government one day being obliged to criminalise the criticism of Islam.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide has produced some useful press releases on the subject: please see below.
It is to be hoped that the conference and any final Outcome Document will lose credibility for the following reasons: Ahmadinejad was the only Head of State to attend the conference and the Steering Committee is chaired by Libya, which is not renowned as a respecter of human rights.
The conference ends on Friday, 24th April. Please pray that Governments of the world over see through the Islamic nations’ attempts to condemn Israel and to stifle freedom of speech about religions and would not feel obliged to join in stifling free speech about religions.
To see the draft Outcome Document from the Conference, please click on the following link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/20_04_09_draftoutcomeracism.pdf.
Analysis of the Document:
- Paragraphs relevant to the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action: 12, 61, 126, 136, 143;
- Paragraphs relevant to the defamation of religion or to incitement to ‘religious hatred’: 12, 13, 68, 69, 134;
- Paragraphs relevant to freedom of expression: 13, 54;
- Paragraphs potentially relevant to anti-Semitism or anti-Semitists: 12, 66, 99;
- Paragraph mentioning ‘Christianophobia’: 12;
- Paragraphs relevant to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: 33;
- Paragraphs relevant to women’s rights: 70, 86, 90.
Media Links
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: CSW Denounces Anti-Freedom Agenda at UN Conference
http://durrants.mediacoverage.co.uk/pr/45018255/a7ISWs3C
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: CSW condemns passing of defamation of religion resolution
http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=press&id=844&search
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: CSW joins international condemnation of defamation resolution
http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=press&id=814&search
BBC News: Racism conference groups expelled
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/8015126.stm
BBC News: UN 'regrets' Ahmadinejad speech
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/8010702.stm
Independent: UN seeks to turn page on Ahmadinejad
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/un-seeks-to-turn-page-on-ahmadinejad-1671809.html
Daily Telegraph: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad UN speech: Iranian press reaction
Daily Telegraph: Britain and EU diplomats walk out as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls Israel 'racist'
BBC News: Walkout at Iran leader's speech
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8008572.stm
Daily Telegraph: UN racism summit to open in Geneva
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5185440/UN-racism-summit-to-open-in-Geneva.html
Guardian: UN racism conference boycotted by more countries
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/20/un-race-conference
BBC News: Boycott-hit racism forum begins
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/europe/8007440.stm
Daily Telegraph: UN racism conference: What Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
BBC News: Ahmadinejad Speech: Full Text
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8010747.stm
Daily Telegraph: Telegraph View: Boycott the United Nations Durban Review Conference
BBC News: US boycotts UN racism conference
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/americas/8006548.stm