SUEDDEUTSCHE.DE: Deutschland und andere Staaten schließen Boykott der Anti-Rassismus-Konferenz nicht aus, die EU lädt Lukaschenko ein, Abchasien kündigt ein Militärmanöver an.
Die umstrittene Anti-Rassismus-Konferenz der Vereinten Nationen (UN) in Genf steht kurz vor dem geplanten Beginn immer noch auf der Kippe. Deutschland hielt sich - wie zahlreiche andere Staaten - die endgültige Entscheidung über Teilnahme oder Boykott am Freitag weiterhin offen.
Hinter den Kulissen wurde intensiv über die Formulierungen für die offizielle Konferenz-Erklärung verhandelt. Das Treffen soll an diesem Montag beginnen. Der Westen fürchtet, dass es von Staaten wie dem Iran als Bühne für anti-israelische Parolen genutzt werden könnte. >>> dpa | Freitag, 17. April 2009
LOS ANGELES TIMES: UN Anti-racism Conference Prepares for Likely High Tensions over Israel, Religion
GENEVA (AP) — Concerns are high that next week's United Nations anti-racism conference may descend into contentious debate over Israel that marred the last such gathering eight years ago.
Already, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and denied the Holocaust — plans to speak Monday as the conference opens.
The United States and the European Union had not decided Friday whether to attend the meeting or boycott it over Islamic nations' demands to condemn Israel and call for a ban on defaming religion. Israel and Canada have said they won't attend over concerns about a possible repeat of verbal attacks on the Jewish state.
"We have made clear ... that we cannot tolerate it if this anti-racism conference is turned into an accusatory event, a one-sided event against the state of Israel," said Thomas Steg, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Many Muslim nations want curbs to free speech to prevent insults to Islam they say have proliferated since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Riots erupted across the Muslim world after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
The five-day meeting in Geneva is designed to review progress in fighting racism since the United Nations' first such conference eight years ago in South Africa.
That meeting, which ended four days before 9/11, was dominated by quarrels over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery. The United States and Israel walked out midway through the conference over a draft resolution that singled out Israel for criticism and likened Zionism — the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Holy Land — to racism.
Those references were removed from the final declaration, though it did cite "the plight of the Palestinians" as an issue.
Many of the 2001 issues — such as criticism of Israel — now are re-emerging.
Direct references to Israel and to defamation of religion have been dropped from the draft document for this year's conference, but there is pressure from Muslim countries to reinsert them. >>> Eliane Engeler, Associated Press Writer | Friday, April 17, 2009
