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Isn’t the objective of this conference to help victims?
Durban Review Conference
Oral Statement by UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer
23 April 2009
UN Watch - Testimony at the UN (http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=6937959) (See full speech below). Video will be available here.

 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">All of us from the DFEZ / DPDC would like to express<br /><br /></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">our special thanks and heartfelt appreciation to<br />Mrs Arielle Herzog of UN Watch<br /></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><br />for her tremendous work and excellent performance<br />organising these absolutely perfect<br />summits, conferences and congress in <city w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Geneva</place /></city /> in April 2009!</span></b></p>

Our special gratitude to Arielle Herzog of UNWatch 		<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><a href="http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=6937959"><font color="#800080">UN Watch - Testimony at the UN</font></a></span></b><em><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><br />(<a href="http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=6937959"><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal"><font color="#800080">http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&amp;b=1313923&amp;ct=6937959</font></span></a>)</span></em></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">See full speech below. </span></strong><strong><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a title="http://www.un.org/webcast/durbanreview/archive.asp?go=090423" href="http://www.un.org/webcast/durbanreview/archive.asp?go=090423" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font color="#800080">Video will be available here</font></span></a></span></strong><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">.</span></strong><em><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">&nbsp;</span></em></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Isn’t the objective of this conference to help victims?</span></strong><em><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"></span></em></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 12pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto" align="center"><city w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" /><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Durban</span></b></em></place /></city /><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> Review Conference</span></b></em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><br /><em><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Oral Statement by UN Watch Executive Director <personname w:st="on" />Hillel Neuer</personname /></span></em><br /><em><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">23 April 2009</span></em></span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"></span></b></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 12pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Thank you, Mr. President.<br /><br />The stated objective of this Durban Review Conference is to review countries’ progress on racism, discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, in order to help millions of victims worldwide.<br /><br />Today, after the conference outcome text has been adopted, we ask: Did the conference live up to its promise? Did it help millions of victims worldwide?<br /><br />To answer that question, we need to listen to the victims. We did exactly that on Sunday, across the street from here, when more than 500 human rights victims, scholars and activists assembled at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy.<br /><br />UN Watch was proud to be among the 40 human rights groups from around the world that organized this momentous event. <br /><br />We heard from victims, who know about racial and ethnic discrimination.<br /><br />From Ester Mujawayo of Rwanda, whose mother, father and husband were murdered in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis, and yet who lives on — not only to remember the dead, but to treat the survivors. <br /><br />From <personname w:st="on" />Gibreil Hamid</personname /> of <place w:st="on" />Darfur</place />, who told us, in tears, about 50 of his relatives murdered in the racist genocide that continues there.<br /><br />From Kristyiana Valcheva, one of the five Bulgarian nurses, and from Ashraf El –Hajoj, the Palestinian doctor — all of whom were framed, convicted and tortured in <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Libya</place /></country-region />, discriminated for being foreigners.<br /><br />We also heard from victims of discrimination on grounds cited in Section 2 of the DDPA, based on sex, religion, political or other opinion.<br /><br />We heard victim testimony from Soe Aung, a dissident from <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Burma</place /></country-region />.<br /><br />From Nazanin Afshin-Jam, President of Stop Child Executions, about children on death row in Iran <br /><br />From Ahmad Batebi from <country-region w:st="on" />Iran</country-region />, the student demonstrator who was tortured for 9 years in <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Iran</place /></country-region />, with his picture on the front cover of the Economist holding his friend’s bloodied t-shirt. <br /><br />From Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the former political prisoner from <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Egypt</place /></country-region />. <br /><br />From José Castillo, the former political prisoner from <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Cuba</place /></country-region />. <br /><br />From Marlon Zakeyo, who fights political repression in Zimbabwe <br /><br />From Pavel Marozau, human rights defender from <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Belarus</place /></country-region />.<br /><br />Now, here in my hands I hold the outcome of this conference. <br /><br />To the distinguished delegates in this hall, I ask:<br /><br />Why are does it ignore all of the situations represented by these victims?<br /><br />In a conference that promised to review country performance on racism, why did the conference in fact fail to review a single country that perpetrates racism, discrimination and intolerance?<br /><br />Why did the conference fail to review a single abuser?<br /><br />Why is it silent on women facing systematic discrimination in <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Saudi Arabia</place /></country-region />?<br /><br />Why is it silent on gays persecuted and even executed in <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Iran</place /></country-region />? On ethnic repression in <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Tibet</place /></country-region />?<br /><br />Why is this conference, which promised to help Africans, silent on black Africans now being raped slaughtered by racist <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Sudan</place /></country-region />? <br /><br />Mr. President, <br /><br />I ask: If this a Review Conference, can someone tell me who has been reviewed? Has this conference really helped millions of victims worldwide? If so, who are they?<br /><br /></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Thank you, Mr. President.</span></p>

UN Watch full speech at Durban Review Conference 		<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="center"><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a href="http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/ohanlon/gallery/UN-Watch-22-04-09-Public/G0000rpg53qBcO9Y" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font color="#800080">Photos of Conference Against Racism, Discrimination and Persecution</font></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">, <br /></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Geneva</span></place /></city /><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">, 22 April 2009, organized by UN Watch and 20 other NGOs<br /><br /></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a title="Permanent Link to " href="http://blog.unwatch.org/?p=326"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font color="#800080">UN Watch hosts conference to spotlight victims’ voices</font></span></a>&nbsp;<br /></span><span class="chronodata"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Published by </span></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a title="View all posts by UN Watch " href="http://blog.unwatch.org/?author=1"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">UN Watch</span></a></span><span class="chronodata"><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="chronodata"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- <abbr class="published" title="2009-04-23T10:39:51-0600">at April 23, 2009</abbr> </span></span><span class="entry-category"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">in </span></span><span class="entry-category"><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a title="View all posts in Durban 2009" href="http://blog.unwatch.org/?cat=3"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Durban 2009</span></a></span></span><span class="entry-category"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">.</span></span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><!-- .entry-meta --><!-- .entry-head -->Across town from Place des Nations, another conference was held yesterday morning in parallel with the U.N. <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Durban Review Conference</span></strong> to truly spotlight the voices of victims of racism and discrimination. Sponsored by UN Watch and other NGOs, the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“Conference Against Racism, Discrimination and Persecution,”</span></strong> featured a diverse set of expert panelists who raised issues of genocide, state-sanctioned persecution, the rights of women and homosexuals, and anti-Semitism.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span id="more-326"></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">In his opening remarks, <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Harold Tanner,</span></strong> head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he “wishes the U.N. would truly focus on racism as we will this morning.”</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">First to speak was <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Father Patrick Desbois</span></strong>, a Catholic priest who has made it his life’s work to uncover and document the murders of 1.5 million Jews in <country-region w:st="on" />Ukraine</country-region /> and <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Belarus</place /></country-region /> during the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Holocaust</span></strong>. He raised the concern that eyewitnesses of the Holocaust are disappearing, while the negationists are growing.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Father Desbois&nbsp;shared the stories recounted to him during his investigations in Eastern European villages by witnesses&nbsp;of the horrific events. One such story involved a man who&nbsp;told Father Desbois that his home was originally occupied by Jews. Years ago, after the Jewish owners were killed, including a baby,&nbsp;he buried them in the garden before claiming their property.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Father Desbois said that all forms of <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">anti-Semitism</span></strong> share a common element– whether&nbsp;it&nbsp;is left-wing anti-Semitism that accuses Jews of being capitalists and controlling&nbsp;world resources or Christian-based anti-Semitism that accuses Jews of bringing the evils of the world. Left, right, and Islamist anti-Semitism have a common point: they want Jews to leave from wherever they are. The same is true of many of the attacks on <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Israel</span></strong></place /></country-region />, he said. Worse, such attacks serve to scapegoat <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Israel</place /></country-region />, deflecting attention from the abuses of other countries.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">British MP Denis MacShane</span></strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">, <country-region w:st="on" />UK</country-region /> Minister of State for <place w:st="on" />Europe</place />, said that nationalist protectionism, xenophobia, fascism, and anti-Semitism share a common root. He expressed his concern that <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">fascist parties</span></strong> might gain seats in the European Parliament. He also advocated the need for new restrictions on the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Islamist extremism of internet</span></strong> sites.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Minister MacShane&nbsp;commended UN Watch and Jewish students for preventing <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Durban II</span></strong> from being hijacked by&nbsp;Jew-hatred, but stressed that the U.N. should not be treated with contempt, because “there’s no other game in town.” He then advocated&nbsp;addressing issues of concern to Muslim communities and working with them to expose anti-Semitism.&nbsp;Such a policy&nbsp;does not imply compromising&nbsp;human rights standards nor does anyone&nbsp;have any&nbsp;“right not to be offended,” he said (referring implicitly to the Islamist call to ban speech critical of their religion).</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Canadian MP Irwin Cotler</span></strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">, former Minister of Justice, said it is “unspeakable” that <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">genocides </span></strong>are still happening in the 21st century. He&nbsp;condemned “state-sanctioned hate cultures, the epicenter of which is <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Ahmadinejad’s&nbsp;Iran</span></strong>.” He went on to decry the laundering of <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">anti-Semitism</span></strong> under the cover of anti-racism by indicting <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Israel</span></strong></place /></country-region /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">&nbsp;</span></strong>with apartheid and Nazism. “The problem is not putting <country-region w:st="on" />Israel</country-region /> above the law, but that <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Israel</place /></country-region /> is systemically denied equality before the law,” he said. He noted the problematic comparisons of Israelis to Nazis during the <city w:st="on" />Gaza</city /> conflict, pointing out that Hamas is a terrorist group sworn to <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Israel</place /></country-region />’s destruction.&nbsp;Such “false parallels are an affront to the living survivors and deceased” of the Holocaust, he said. He complained that the U.N. Human Rights Council has condemned <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Israel</place /></country-region /> in 26 out of 32 country-specific resolutions, while ignoring the world’s worst violators.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Next to speak, <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Dounia Ettaib, President of the Association for Arab Women of <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Italy</place /></country-region /></span></strong>, highlighted the plight of women in the Muslim World, and throughout the developing world in general. She spoke of the denial of basic rights and equality, the practice of polygamy, and the prevalence of honor killings. She said that many of the anti-female traditions of the Muslim World are not actually based in Islam, noting the powerful women&nbsp;of the Koran.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Activist <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Louis George Tin, founder of the International Day Against Homophobia</span></strong>, deplored the removal of homophobia from the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Durban II</span></strong> agenda. He spoke of the plight of homosexuals throughout the world, highlighting cases from <country-region w:st="on" />Uganda</country-region /> and <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Iran</place /></country-region /> where homosexuality is a criminal, sometimes capital, offense. “There was a time when black and white people couldn’t marry,” he said, drawing a parallel with prohibitions on gay marriage. “Everyone should live freely.”</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Next to speak, <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy</span></strong> decried the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“masquerade” of <city w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Durban</place /></city /> II</span></strong>. He said that many people came naively to the Durban Review Conference, hoping to place their cause on the agenda e.g. the “untouchables” of <country-region w:st="on" />India</country-region />, those concerned about modern slavery, victims of the genocide in <place w:st="on" />Darfur</place />. But, as long as they were not Israeli or Palestinian, no one&nbsp;was interested in them. He called for “urgent reform” of the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Human Rights Council</span></strong> to ensure that the world’s worst violators are denied membership. He also encouraged preparations for <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“<city w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Geneva</place /></city /> III,”</span></strong> a conference to truly give a voice to victims of discrimination. The close of Henri-Levy’s speech was&nbsp;marked by a&nbsp;lengthy standing ovation.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">President of </span><strong><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a href="http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“Stop Child Executions”</span></a></span></strong><strong><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">&nbsp;</span></strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">and former Miss <country-region w:st="on" />Canada</country-region />, <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Nazanin Afshin-Jam</span></strong> spoke against the execution of minors,&nbsp;especially in <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Iran</span></strong></place /></country-region /> where this is most prevalent. She also shared her personal story, fleeing <country-region w:st="on" />Iran</country-region /> for <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Canada</place /></country-region /> after her father was sentenced to death for serving alcohol and playing music at his hotel. Miraculously, her father&nbsp;was also able to escape&nbsp;when his executioner&nbsp;had a car accident before carrying out the execution.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Nazanin highlighted the case of a Kurdish girl, also named <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Nazanin</span></strong>, who was sentenced to death by the Iranian government at age 17 for defending herself against rapists, killing one of them. Had she&nbsp;allowed the rape to take place, she could have been sentenced to lashes for defying chastity laws, or worse,&nbsp;sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.&nbsp;This was the case that inspired Afshin-Jam to become an activist against child executions. She succeeded in gathering 350,000 signatures to save Nazanin through an internet campaign. Due to the media and diplomatic pressure, <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Iran</place /></country-region /> decided to stay her execution, instead demanding she pay a heavy fine in “blood money” to the rapist’s family. Afshin-Jam encouraged the audience to <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">sign the petition</span></strong> on her website to stop child executions. It is through this pressure that lives are saved, she said.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Next to speak were survivors of <country-region w:st="on" />Rwanda</country-region /> and <place w:st="on" />Darfur</place /> who urged international action against genocide. <personname w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Gibreil Hamid</span></strong></personname />, President of the Darfur Peace and <placename w:st="on" />Development</placename /> <placetype w:st="on" />Center</placetype />,&nbsp;stated his concern that <place w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Darfur</span></strong></place /> is not on the agenda of an anti-racism conference. He wishes people with clean hearts who care about human beings would run the U.N. He said Darfuris are in desperate need.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Esther Mujawayo</span></strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> spoke about the genocide in <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Rwanda</span></strong></place /></country-region />, in which one million people were killed in 100 days.&nbsp;She recounted how it began&nbsp;with the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">incitement to genocide</span></strong> on Rwandan radio broadcasts that played songs with lovely melodies, but terrible words encouraging Tutsi extermination. Those responsible for the broadcasts and ensuing massacres were not “African barbarians,” she said. “They were trained intellectuals.”</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">While Mujawayo spoke with contempt about the silence of the masses who witnessed the genocide but did nothing to stop it, she also commended the few people who risked their lives to assist Tutsis. “I refuse that evil will have the last word,” she said.</span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: ">For more on Hamid and Mujawayo, see previous </span><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: DE-CH; mso-fareast-font-family: "><a href="http://blog.unwatch.org/?p=322"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">blog</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "> posting on their commentary at a UN Watch side event.</span> </p>

Gibreil Hamid DFEZ at Conference Against Racism 		<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><city w:st="on" /><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Durban</span></city /><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> II Update – View from <city w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Geneva<br /><br /></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a title="Permanent Link to " href="http://blog.unwatch.org/?p=331"><font color="#800080">Sudan calls ICC racist</font></a><br /><br /></span><span class="chronodata"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Published by </span></span><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a title="View all posts by UN Watch " href="http://blog.unwatch.org/?author=1"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">UN Watch</span></a></span><span class="chronodata"><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="chronodata"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- at April 23, 2009</span></span><span class="entry-category"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">&nbsp;</span></span><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Towards the close of Tuesday’s high-level segment at the Durban Review Conference, <country-region w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Sudan</span></strong></country-region />’s Deputy Justice Minister, Abdel Daiem Zumrawi gave a fiery speech, denouncing the decision of the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">International Criminal Court</span></strong> to indict <country-region w:st="on" />Sudan</country-region />’s President al-Bashir for the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">genocide in <place w:st="on" />Darfur</place /></span></strong>.</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“The accusation of the President does not relate to doing of justice or bringing of peace and stability,” he said. “We are of the opinion that the ICC is being employed as a <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">racist instrument </span></strong>that goes after certain groups while overlooking others.”<br /></span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Zumrawi then blamed this “absence of justice” for breeding “malice, <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">terrorism</span></strong> and extremism.”</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">He went on to denounce “heinous crimes committed against the <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Palestinian people</span></strong> by the Israeli occupation” and said, “the protection offered <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" /><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Israel</span></strong></place /></country-region /> by some Western countries” is the reason it continues to “act against humanity.”<br /></span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Zumrawi also decried the “ongoing smearing campaign against the religion of <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Islam</span></strong> and its Prophet.”</span></p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Moreover, his speech attempted to portray <country-region w:st="on" />Sudan</country-region /> as a country committed to human rights, claiming, for example, that <country-region w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Sudan</place /></country-region />’s constitution calls for the full representation of marginalized areas.</span></p></p>

Durban II Update - Sudan calls ICC racist
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="center"><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong>African protestors demonstrate outside the U.N. headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday, April 21, 2009.</strong></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="center"><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong></strong></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="center"><span lang="DE-CH" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong>The crisis in Darfur does not feature in the outcome document adopted at the U.N. racism conference.<br />(AP Photo)</strong></span></p><p />

African Protesters for Darfur outside the UN

Darfur Protesters outside the UN Geneva

Gibreil Hamid and Irwin Cotler

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