For Obama, anti-racism talks present a tough test

• His team appears to be ready to storm out of the Geneva meeting in solidarity with Israel

President Barack Obama is facing a difficult set of challenges on the sensitive issue of an upcoming United Nations conference on racism.

The developing world, including the African Group of countries, views the planned session in Geneva as an important event warranting full participation by all UN member-states.

“I would say the African Group is one of the driving forces in this process and has played a key role in the negotiations on the draft outcome document,” a conference spokesman, Mr Doune Porter, told the Sunday Nation.

At a preparatory conference in Nigeria last August, the African Group made clear its commitment to addressing racism in today’s world. It cited “the enduring and tragic impact of the slave trade, which is a crime against humanity, particularly the African people and its successive generations.”

Threatening a boycott

But the US has been threatening to boycott the April 20-24 conference. The Obama administration has appeared ready to react to the Geneva meeting in much the same way that the Bush administration did to an earlier UN anti-racism conference held in Durban, South Africa.

US delegates walked out of that gathering in 2001 in solidarity with Israel’s anger over efforts to include wording in the Durban declaration likening Zionism to racism.

This time too, the US walked away from preparatory meetings on the anti-racism conference. The Obama administration voiced strong objections to a draft version of the Geneva conference declaration, partly on the ground that it singled out Israel for criticism over its treatment of Palestinians.

Washington’s stance drew condemnation from some human rights activists, who saw it as contradicting President Obama’s pledge to engage in international discussions on controversial matters without setting preconditions.

“It is an embarrassment for the Obama administration to continue the Bush administration’s practice of refusing dialogue with others,” said Mr Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney-general and winner of the 2008 UN Human Rights Award.

Washington’s UN ambassador has continued to hold talks with UN officials, however, in the hope of devising language that might allow the US to take part in the conference. The Obama team has clearly been searching for a way of embracing multilateralism and upholding racial justice without upsetting Israel or alienating the Jewish state’s supporters in the US.

And it appears that this US diplomatic initiative will yet prove successful.

Conference organisers on Friday unveiled in Geneva a shorter version of the draft declaration that makes no mention of Israel and that allays other concerns the Obama administration had previously expressed.

Ms Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said this compromise may mark “a major turning point” in preparations for the conference. Ms Pillay added that she is “greatly encouraged” by initial responses to the new draft from ambassadors with whom she has conferred.

“They agreed that this text meets the basic requirements of all concerned, while still being substantive and adding value to the fight against racism, xenophobia and similar forms of intolerance,” she added.