The US has decided against taking part in a UN-led conference on racism after it quit the previous session in 2001 over claims of anti-Semitism, US officials said.
“We’re not going to further engage in Durban II,” a senior US State Department official said on condition of anonymity, referring to the conference scheduled for April 20 to April 24 in Geneva.
A US delegation took part in the preparatory talks in Geneva on Feb. 16 and made proposed changes to a resolution expected to be adopted at the conference, which Canada and Israel have said they would boycott.
A statement issued by State Department spokesman Robert Wood later on Friday said the “document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable.”
“As a result, the United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text,” he said.
The team of former US president George W. Bush had said last year it would not assist in the preparatory discussions, but President Barack Obama’s administration sent a delegation to look at whether its participation is warranted.
“The intent of our participation is to work to try to change the direction in which the Review Conference is heading,” the State Department said last month.
A second US official said on the condition of anonymity that his government had tried to find a way to participate.
The conference was first held in Durban, South Africa, a few days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US, and against the backdrop of the second Palestinian intifada.
Israel and the US walked out on the fourth day of the conference in protest against attempts by Arab nations to adopt a resolution that equates Zionism with racism.
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