US May Boycott UN Racism Conference

[ILJ_Digest]

Unnamed sources from the U.S. State Department have indicated that the United States will likely boycott an upcoming U.N. conference on racism. A State Department official paid a recent visit to Geneva in February to negotiate the conference’s final document. After looking over the draft document, the official stated that it is “unsalvageable” by U.S. standards and that therefore the United States will be unable to participate in the negotiations of the document as well as the conference itself.
U.S. officials say that the document unfairly singles out and criticizes Israel. The U.S. is also concerned that the draft could threaten freedom of speech, since certain parts of the document seek to restrict the defamation of religions. Other nations, such as Canada and Israel, have also stated that they may boycott the U.N. racism conference.
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