By Gurmukh Singh, IANS
Toronto : Canada has announced that it will boycott the UN-sponsored second Durban World Conference Against Racism being held next year.
The Canadian decision has been prompted by its experience of the 2001 conference where Muslim nations’ criticism of Israel had led to walkouts by the Jewish state and the US.
Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenny Wednesday said Canada would have nothing to do with such a conference that last time ended up promoting racism and intolerance.
“We’ll attend any conference that is opposed to racism and intolerance, not those that actually promote racism and intolerance,” he told the Canadian press.
Calling the 2001 gathering “a circus of intolerance”, Kenney said: “Our considered judgement, having participated in the preparatory meetings, was that we were set for a replay of Durban I. And Canada has no intention of lending its good name and resources to such a systematic promotion of hatred and bigotry.”
Canada, which was ruled by the Liberal party at the time of the first conference, didn’t follow the US and Israel in walking out of the conference.
But the current Conservative party government, closely allied to the US and Israel, was expected to take a hard stand.
The Canadian decision has also been precipitated by the fact that Libya and Cuba are the chair and vice-chair of the next conference.
With these two anti-US and anti-Israel nations setting the agenda for the next conference, Ottawa feared a repeat of 2001 and decided to stay away from it.
The Jewish organisation of B’nai Brith Canada praised the government for its principled stand.
It said: “The first Durban World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance had degenerated into a hate-fest directed at Israel and the Jewish delegates attending the conference.
“The same players that tainted the Durban I process are hard at work on Durban II. The chair for this conference is Libya, hardly a bastion of human rights and democracy, which has a history of persecuting its Jews.”
The Jewish body asked other nations to follow Canada’s example in boycotting the conference.