10A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Palestinian woman holds up a placard reading 'boycott Israel as aparta regime' as she takes part in an anti-racism demonstration in the center of Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday. The United Nations is bracing for a major anti-racism conference opening next week at its European headquarters, with concerns rife that it may descend once again into clashes over Israel that marred the last conference in South Africa eight years ago.
INTERNATIONAL
U.S. boycotts U.N. racism conference
BY BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
Associated Press Writer
GENEVA — The United Nations opens its first global racism conference in eight years on Monday with the U.S. and at least five other countries boycotting the event out of concern that Islamic countries will demand that it denounce Israel and ban criticism of Islam.
The administration of President Barack Obama. America's first
black head of state, announced Saturday that it would boycott "with regret" the weeklong meeting in Geneva, which already is experiencing much of the bickering and political infighting that marred the
2001 conference in Durban, South Africa.
The Netherlands declared its boycott Sunday, while Australia, Canada, Israel and Italy already have said they would not attend.
"I am shocked and deeply disappointed by the United States' decision not to attend."
But he said the language of the U.N's draft declaration "raised a whole set of objectionable provisions" and risked a reprise of Durban, "which became a session through which folks expressed antagonism toward Israel in ways that were oftentimes completely hypcritical and counterproductive."
Obama said in Trinidad on Sunday after attending the Summit of the Americas.
"I would love to be involved in a useful conference that addressed continuing issues of racism and discrimination around the globe,"
NAVI PILLAY U.N. human rights chief
"We expressed in the run-up to this conference our concerns that if you adopted all of the language from 2001, that's not something we can sign up for," Obama said.
Some European countries are still deciding whether to
attend the U.N. conference.
U. N. spokesman Rupert Colville said Germany informed the global body on Sunday that it would boycott it. In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry refused to confirm that, but said the government would announce its final decision on Sunday night.
Britain said it will send diplomats, despite concerns the meeting could become a forum for Holocaust denial or anti-Semitic attacks.
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI said the conference was needed to eliminate racial intolerance around the world. Asia News, a Catholic news agency that is part of the missionary arm of the Vatican, said of the pope's comment: "The Holy See is distancing itself from the criticisms of some Western countries"
"I am shocked and deeply disappointed by the United States' decision not to attend," said U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay, who is hosting the conference.
She conceded some countries were focusing solely on one or two issues to the detriment of the fight against intolerance, but said it is essential that the issue of racism be tackled globally.
The major sticking points regarding the proposed final U.N. declaration are its implied criticism of Israel and an attempt by Muslim governments to ban all criticism of Islam, Sharia law, the prophet Muhammad and other tenets of their faith.
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad — who repeatedly
has called for the destruction of Israel and denied the Holocaust — is slated to speak on the first day.
He arrived in Geneva on Sunday evening and was meeting President Hans-Rudolf Merz of Switzerland, the country which represents the diplomatic interests of the United States in the Islamic republic.
The pullout of Germany would be significant as it has played a leading role in U.N. anti-racism efforts as a result of its troubled historical legacy. In recent meetings, it has expressed dismay about some governments' attempts to downplay the significance of the Holocaust.
The bland U.N. draft statement does not mention Israel by name, but it reaffirms the Durban statement and its reference to the plight of Palestinians. That document was agreed after the United States and Israel had walked out over attempts to liken Zionism — the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Holy Land — to racism.
Israel and Jewish groups have lobbied hard against Western participation in the meeting, arguing that the presence alone of American and European negotiators would give legitimacy to what they fear could become an anti-Semitic gathering.
The residents argue the corps' poor maintenance of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a shipping channel dug in the 1960s as a short-cut between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans, led to the wipeout of St. Bernard Parish and the city's Lower Ninth Ward when Katrina struck in August 2005. They are asking for damages between $300,000 and $400,000 for each individual.
The corps has argued that it is immune from liability because the channel is part of New Orleans' flood control system, but the judge has allowed the case to be heard because residents claim the channel was a navigation project.
Arguments are set to begin Monday in the trial, which will be heard and decided by a judge, not a jury. If the five residents and one business in this initial lawsuit are victorious, more than 120,000 other individuals, businesses and government entities could have a better shot at claiming billions of dollars in damages.
NATIONAL Trial to decide if Army owes victims of Katrina
NEW ORLEANS — More than three years after Katina stirred up the waters and washed out levees along a 75-mile, man-made shipping channel dubbed "hurricane highway", a judge could soon decide whether the Army Corps of Engineers owes residents and businesses damages because of the massive flooding.
One of the residents suing, 75-year-old Lucille Franz, lost her home in the Lower 9th Ward. "I've been through a lot," she said.
Her sister drowned at St. Rita's nursing home in St. Bernard near the MRGO.
Associated Press