AJC Praises Czech Republic Decision to Skip Durban III Conference

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Jul 22, 2011, 05:14 ET

NEW YORK, July 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC welcomed the Czech Republic's announcement that it will not participate in the UN Commemoration of the Durban World Conference Against Racism. The event is scheduled to take place in New York in September.

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"The Czech Republic has once again demonstrated leadership in the European Union by taking this principled position to skip the ten-year commemoration of the notorious anti-Israel spectacle in Durban," said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

The United States and Canada had previously announced they would not attend the Durban commemoration. The Czech Republic is the first EU member to join the two North American countries.

"The global struggle against racism, so needed in today's world, has been repeatedly hijacked by countries with little actual regard for human rights and whose primary goal is to distract attention from themselves and advance anti-Israel agendas," said Harris.

In 2009, ten countries chose not to participate in Durban II, among them the Czech Republic and four other EU member states – Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland.

Earlier this year, AJC appealed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ensure that "the debacles of the 2001 and 2009 Durban conferences are not repeated in 2011."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee