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March 3, 2009

UN Commissioner Urges US to Attend Racism Conference
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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, has criticized
the United States, Canada and Israel for threatening to boycott next
month’s World Conference Against Racism conference in Geneva.

Navanethem Pillay: “Narrow, parochial interests and reflexive
partisanship must be cast aside in the interest of a greater common
good. Let me underscore that a failure to do so may reverberate
negatively on the full spectrum of human rights work and mechanisms for
years to come. We need to prevent the acrimony of the past from
encumbering the fight against intolerance, which is—and I’m sure we all
agree—both of urgent concern and in the best interest of everyone.”

The Obama administration said the US won’t attend unless the
conference’s final document drops all references to Israel and
reparations for slavery.



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