I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1920 

To prohibit United States funding for the 2009 United Nations Durban 

Review Conference (‘‘Durban II Conference’’) or any other activity relating to the planning, preparation, or implementation of a follow-up meeting to the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism, 

Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (‘‘Durban 

I Conference’’) in Durban, South Africa. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 2, 2009 

Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. LAMBORN, and Mr. MARIO

DIAZ-BALART of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit United States funding for the 2009 United Nations Durban Review Conference (‘‘Durban II Conference’’) or any other activity relating to the planning, 

preparation, or implementation of a follow-up meeting 

to the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against 

Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related 

Intolerance (‘‘Durban I Conference’’) in Durban, South 

Africa. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Dur3 ban Review Conference (Durban II) Funding Prohibition 

4 Act of 2009’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds as follows: 

7 (1) The 2001 United Nations World Conference 

8 Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia 

9 and Related Intolerance (‘‘Durban I Conference’’) 

10 was held in Durban, South Africa. 

11 (2) The Durban I Conference was used as a 

12 platform to advance anti-Semitism and, con13 sequently, the United States and Israeli delegates 

14 walked out. 

15 (3) Former United States Secretary of State 

16 Colin Powell gave the following statement after the 

17 Durban I Conference: ‘‘I know that you do not com18 bat racism by conferences that produce declarations 

19 containing hateful language, some of which is a 

20 throwback to the days of ‘Zionism equals racism;’ or 

21 support the idea that we have made too much of the 

22 Holocaust; or suggest that apartheid exists in Israel; 

23 or that single out only one country in the world— 

24 Israel—for censure and abuse.’’. 

25 (4) The 2009 United Nations Durban Review 

26 Conference (‘‘Durban II Conference’’) will be held 


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1 between April 20 and 24, 2009, in Geneva, Switzer2 land. 

3 (5) On December 22, 2007, the United States 

4 and 45 other United Nations member states voted 

5 not to support the Durban I Conference. 

6 (6) Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen 

7 announced on December 16, 2008, that the Nether8 lands was considering not participating in the Dur9 ban II Conference because ‘‘it seems like the sole in10 tention is to criticize Israel and condemn the West 

11 for slavery and its colonial history.’’. 

12 (7) Canada’s Multiculturalism Secretary of 

13 State, Jason Kennedy, announced on January 23, 

14 2008, that Canada will not participate in the Dur15 ban II Conference because ‘‘Canada is interested in 

16 combating racism, not promoting it . . . And Can17 ada has no intention of lending its good name and 

18 resources to such a systematic promotion of hatred 

19 and bigotry.’’. 

20 (8) The United Kingdom’s Europe Minister 

21 stated: ‘‘We will play no part in an international 

22 conference that exhibits the degree of anti-Semitism 

23 that was disgracefully on view on the previous occa24 sion.’’. 


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1 (9) The United States Congress unanimously 

2 passed House Resolution 136 on September 23, 

3 2008, which outlines five requirements for United 

4 States participation in the Durban II Conference: 

5 (A) No reaffirmation of Durban Declara6 tion and Plan of Action (Durban I) language 

7 singling out Israel for criticism. 

8 (B) No language focusing on any single 

9 country or conflict. 

10 (C) The text must focus on fighting racism 

11 and not any political issues. 

12 (D) The text must be cleansed of language 

13 restricting accepted human rights such as free 

14 speech. 

15 (E) Language on reparations should not be 

16 restricted to formulation in the Durban Dec17 laration and Plan of Action. 

18 (10) Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Min19 ister Tzipi Livni announced on November 19, 2008, 

20 that Israel will neither participate in nor legitimize 

21 the Durban II Conference. 

22 (11) United States Acting State Department 

23 Spokesman Robert Wood announced on February 

24 14, 2009: ‘‘The State Department will send a dele25 gation to the February 16–19 consultations for the 


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1 World Conference Against Racism as a means of 

2 evaluating the current direction of Conference prep3 arations and whether United States participation in 

4 the Conference itself is warranted . . . . Our partici5 pation in these informal negotiations does not indi6 cate—and should not be misconstrued to indicate— 

7 that the United States will participate in April in 

8 the World Conference Against Racism itself.’’. 

9 (12) United States Acting State Department 

10 Spokesman Robert Wood announced on February 

11 27, 2009: ‘‘The United States will not engage in fur12 ther negotiations on this [draft outcome document] 

13 text, nor will we participate in a conference based on 

14 this text.’’. 

15 (13) Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini 

16 announced on March 5, 2009, the withdrawal of the 

17 Italian delegation from the preparatory negotiations 

18 for the Durban II Conference due to ‘‘aggressive 

19 and anti-Semitic statements’’ in the draft of the 

20 event’s final document. 

21 (14) United States Acting Assistant Secretary 

22 of State for International Organization Affairs 

23 James Warlick stated on March 21, 2009: ‘‘Our 

24 conclusion was that there was just not the political 

25 will to work with us. Rather than give legitimacy to 


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1 a conference that has another agenda—not racism— 

2 but another agenda, we decided that we would step 

3 back.’’. 

4 (15) Pre-conference drafts for the Durban I 

5 Conference condemned Israel for allegedly pursing a 

6 racist Zionist agenda and committing crimes against 

7 humanity. 

8 (16) An African-led effort at the Durban I Con9 ference sought to include a demand for reparations 

10 from the West for slavery. 

11 (17) Conferees at the Durban I Conference 

12 tried to condemn the United States for refusing to 

13 adopt certain United Nations treaties. 

14 (18) The United States cannot accept treaty re15 quirements that are incompatible with the United 

16 States Constitution. 

17 (19) In December 2007, the United States dele18 gation to the United Nations rejected the United 

19 Nations biennial budget for 2008–2009 due, in part, 

20 because of proposals to fund the Durban II Con21 ference. 

22 (20) The chair of the Preparatory Committee 

23 for the Durban Review Conference is Libya, and the 

24 co-chairs include several countries such as Iran, 

25 Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, and Cuba which 


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1 have failed to demonstrate consistent equality of re2 spect for human rights. 

3 (21) Libya is a member of the League of Arab 

4 States, whose Arab Charter on Human Rights calls 

5 for the elimination of ‘‘Zionism’’. 

6 (22) Both Libya and Iran are strong supporters 

7 of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) 

8 in the United Nations Human Rights Council, which 

9 has historically been hostile to Israel. 

10 (23) The United Nations Human Rights Coun11 cil is responsible for organizing the Durban II Con12 ference. 

13 (24) The United Nations Human Rights Coun14 cil has ignored ongoing repression in Sudan, 

15 Belarus, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, 

16 North Korea, Zimbabwe, and other countries. 

17 (25) The United Nations Human Rights Coun18 cil has held ten regular sessions concerning human 

19 rights worldwide and five special sessions to con20 demn Israel. 

21 (26) The United Nations Human Rights Coun22 cil has adopted more resolutions and decisions con23 demning Israel than all the other 191 United Na24 tions member states combined. 


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1 (27) United Nations General Assembly Resolu2 tion 46/86 rejects the position that Zionism is rac3 ism or a form of racial discrimination. 

4 (28) Over $2,000,000 from the United Nations 

5 regular budget has been expended on Durban II 

6 Conference preparatory activities. 

7 (29) The United States is the largest contrib8 utor to the United Nations system and is assessed 

9 for a full 22 percent of the United Nations regular 

10 budget. 

11 (30) The United States House of Representa12 tives passed House Resolution 557 on September 25, 

13 2007, which strongly condemned the United Nations 

14 Human Rights Council for ignoring severe human 

15 rights abuses in various countries, while choosing to 

16 unfairly target Israel by including it as the only 

17 country permanently placed on the Council’s agenda. 

18 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON UNITED STATES FUNDING FOR 

19 THE 2009 UNITED NATIONS DURBAN REVIEW 

20 CONFERENCE AND RELATED ACTIVITIES. 

21 Notwithstanding any other provision of law— 

22 (1) no funds appropriated or otherwise made 

23 available by any Act may be made available to sup24 port the 2009 United Nations Durban Review Con25 ference (‘‘Durban II Conference’’) or any other acVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:59 Apr 07, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1920.IH H1920

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1 tivity relating to the planning, preparation, or imple2 mentation of a follow-up meeting to the 2001 United 

3 Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial 

4 Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance 

5 (‘‘Durban I Conference’’) in Durban, South Africa; 

6 and 

7 (2) the United States shall withhold from its 

8 assessed contributions to the United Nations regular 

9 budget, in proportion to the United States assess10 ment for the United Nations regular budget, the 

11 amount allocated for the Durban II Conference and 

12 any other activity relating to the planning, prepara13 tion, or implementation of a follow-up meeting to the 

14 Durban I Conference. 

Æ 


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