Wiesenthal Center To NGOs at UN Conference in Geneva: (NGOs): "Declare Zero Tolerance for Replay of Infamous Durban I Conference"

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre`s Chief Delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, Dr. Shimon Samuels, today addressed an NGO Forum Preparatory Session for the 2009 Durban ReviewConference.

Samuels stated: "We came to the Durban UN World Conference Against Racism in 2001 to combat racism and found every true issue of racial intolerance and discrimination hijacked for acampaign of antisemitic agitation.

As Jews, we came with a sense of collective responsibility to seek solidarity among all victims of racism and encountered a barrage of hatred and violence unheard of since theHolocaust. Our sister organizations in the anti-racist movement, with few exceptions, were marked by their silence, themselves bowing to an agenda set by intimidation."

Samuels stressed that "at this very forum, there have been allusions to a conspiracy against the Durban process, with charges of disinformation and defamation aimed at boycottingthereby blocking
measures against racism itself. Such accusations are the ingredients of `Durban 1` and I call upon those speakers to reveal the identity of the `conspirators`, rather than to speakin stereotypes."

The statement concluded: "Hate must be considered as indivisible and the common denominator of all anti-racists must be solidarity against all its expressions and forms."

The Wiesenthal Centre therefore urged the inclusion in the UN Conference of NGOs` statement the following red lines as a condition for a Durban Replay NGO Forum:

"We declare solidarity with all the victims of racism and zero tolerance for hijacking, agitation and hate expressed within the anti-racist movement towards all or any of itsconstituents..."

"Any NGO that incites to conspiracy theories, identity thefts (such as distorting the Holocaust or antisemitism to suit an Arab political revisionism) or the redefinition ofapartheid for demonization or delegitimization, should be considered an agent of racism. As such, its accreditation in consultative status to the UN should be disqualified."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels on +33 6 09770158