U.N. Anti-Racism Meeting Reaches Consensus

[bemildred]

Source: NYT

GENEVA — The United Nations anti-racism conference moved from rancor to rapport on Tuesday, overcoming a conference-opening denunciation of Israel by Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to adopt a consensus resolution that governments applauded as an improved basis for action against racism and xenophobia.

The adoption of the resolution by the committee that coordinates the conference ended months of negotiation that removed contentious clauses referring to Israel and Palestine and trying to make defamation of religion an offense against human rights.

The conference will formally adopt the document here on Friday, but it is no longer open to debate or amendment, diplomats said.

“This is very good news indeed,” said Navi Pillay, the United Nations human rights commissioner, who hosted the conference. “It’s the culmination of months of deliberation.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/world/europe/22iht-ra...

[Captain Hilts]

1. Is anybody left at the meeting? A lot of folks walked out. nt

[Bacchus39]

2. so they agreed to adjourn n/t

s

[ohio2007]

3. popcorn concession sales were at an all time high this year

VALLETTA (Reuters) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday of misusing a UN conference on racism at which he attacked Israel's policy toward the Palestinians as racist.

"It is very regretful that the conference was misused by the Iranian president for political purposes," Ban said during an official visit to Malta.

Ahmadinejad used his speech at the conference on racism in Geneva Monday to describe Israel as "the most cruel and repressive racist regime" because of its treatment of the Palestinians.

snip

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090421/wl_nm/us_racism_un_...



and in other news,

Human Rights Watch Group: Hamas killed 32 'collaborators'

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/20/Group-Hamas-kill... /


They would have done better being caught for piracy off Somalia