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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1361 Introduced in House (IH)]

110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1361

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
    States should lead a high-level diplomatic effort to defeat the 
campaign by some members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference 
to divert the United Nation's Durban Review Conference from a review of 
    problems in their own and other countries by attacking Israel, 
promoting anti-Semitism, and undermining the Universal Charter of Human 
  Rights and to ensure that the Durban Review Conference serves as a 
       forum to review commitments to combat all forms of racism.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 2008

Mr. Berman (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Ms. 
 Waters, and Mr. Scott of Georgia) submitted the following resolution; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
    States should lead a high-level diplomatic effort to defeat the 
campaign by some members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference 
to divert the United Nation's Durban Review Conference from a review of 
    problems in their own and other countries by attacking Israel, 
promoting anti-Semitism, and undermining the Universal Charter of Human 
  Rights and to ensure that the Durban Review Conference serves as a 
       forum to review commitments to combat all forms of racism.

Whereas the United Nations is undertaking preparations for a 2009 Durban Review 
        Conference on the implementation of commitments made as part of the 2001 
        World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa;
Whereas the 2001 World Conference Against Racism marked an important recognition 
        of the historic wounds caused by slavery, colonialism, and related 
        ongoing racism and racial discrimination, including the recognition of 
        the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity, and that 
        people of African descent, people of Asian descent, and indigenous 
        peoples who were victims of these acts continue to face discrimination 
        and marginalization as a direct consequence;
Whereas the 2001 World Conference Against Racism also undertook historical 
        efforts to recognize and address ongoing racism and racial 
        discrimination against persons of African descent, Jewish, Muslim, 
        caste, indigenous, Roma and Sinti, and other communities, anti-migrant 
        xenophobia, and incitement to racial and religious hatred;
Whereas the 2001 World Conference Against Racism and its achievements were 
        overshadowed and diminished as some participants in the conference, in 
        particular during the Non-Governmental Organization Forum, called the 
        ``NGO Forum Against Racism'' (NGO Forum), misused human rights language 
        to promote hate, anti-Semitism, incitement, and divert the focus of the 
        conference from problems within their own countries to a focus on 
        Israel, leading the conference to be discredited;
Whereas the NGO Forum produced a document called the ``NGO Declaration'' that 
        contained abusive language branding Israel an ``apartheid state'' that 
        is guilty of ``racist crimes against humanity'';
Whereas the United States withdrew its delegation from the 2001 World Conference 
        on Racism, a decision that Secretary of State Colin Powell explained by 
        stating that ``you do not combat racism by conferences that produce 
        declarations containing hateful language, some of which is a throwback 
        to the days of `Zionism equals racism'; or supports the idea that we 
        have made too much of the Holocaust; or suggests that apartheid exists 
        in Israel; or that singles out only one country in the world--Israel--
        for censure and abuse'';
Whereas the atmosphere of anti-Semitism at the NGO Forum was dubbed as 
        ``hateful, even racist'' by former High Commissioner for Human Rights 
        Mary Robinson and as ``disgraceful'' by Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz 
        Pahad of South Africa, who also affirmed that parts of the 2001 World 
        Conference Against Racism were ``hijacked and used by some with an anti-
        Israeli agenda to turn it into an anti-Semitic event'';
Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who served as 
        Secretary General of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, refused 
        to accept the NGO Declaration, and some leading civil and human rights 
        organizations and activists criticized the repugnant anti-Semitism and 
        demonization of Israel in the NGO Forum, and the harassment of Jewish 
        participants it fomented;
Whereas despite recognizing the Holocaust and increased anti-Semitism, the 
        official government declaration adopted by the 2001 World Conference 
        Against Racism, the ``Durban Declaration and Plan of Action'', 
        highlighted the ``plight of the Palestinian people under foreign 
        occupation'', and in so doing singled out one regional conflict for 
        discussion in a biased way, and wrongly branded Israel's treatment of 
        Palestinians as racist;
Whereas, at the first organizing session of the planned 2009 Durban Review 
        Conference on August 27, 2007, in Geneva, Switzerland, Ambassador Masood 
        Khan of Pakistan, speaking ``on behalf of the OIC'', described the 
        concerns being expressed about the Durban Review Conference as a ``smear 
        campaign'', and made it clear that the Organization of the Islamic 
        Conference's (OIC) intention is to make so-called new forms of racism a 
        centerpiece of the conference agenda, urging also that ``[t]he 
        Conference should move the spotlight on the continued plight of 
        Palestinian people and non-recognition of their inalienable right to 
        self-determination'';
Whereas many OIC member states have already made clear their determination to go 
        beyond the comprehensive list of items covered by the Durban Declaration 
        and Plan of Action to force consideration by the 2009 Durban Review 
        Conference of a global blasphemy code that would legitimize arbitrary 
        restrictions of religious freedom, freedom of conscience, and the 
        freedom of expression and opinion in the name of protecting religions 
        from ``defamation'' and ``blasphemy'';
Whereas the Human Rights Council agreed in Resolution 3/2 on December 8, 2006, 
        that the 2009 Durban Review Conference would, like other United Nations 
        review conferences, focus on countries' implementation of the many 
        commitments to fight racism and discrimination already affirmed in the 
        official governmental Durban Declaration and Plan of Action and that 
        there will be ``no renegotiation of the existing agreements contained 
        therein'';
Whereas, following the August 27, 2007, 2009 Durban Review Conference 
        preparatory meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, countries, including the 
        United States, France, and Israel, have stated that, unless the 
        direction of the Conference is refocused, the process will not be 
        credible or worthy of support;
Whereas the High Commissioner for Human Rights was named Secretary-General of 
        the 2009 Durban Review Conference;
Whereas, in advance of determining the modalities, format, duration, and venue 
        of the 2009 Durban Review Conference, the OIC and G-77 member states 
        requested the United Nations General Assembly to fund a $7.2 million 
        preparatory process of international, regional, and national meetings;
Whereas, on November 28, 2007, 45 United Nations Member States, including the 
        United States, joined together in the Third Committee (Resolution A/C/3/
        62/L.65/Rev.) to vote against a resolution that contradicted the 2009 
        Durban Review Conference preparatory committee consensus agreements 
        about the framework of the Durban Review Conference, its scope, and 
        sources of funding;
Whereas, on December 21, 2007, 40 United Nations Member States, including the 
        United States, joined together in the Fifth Committee (Resolution A/C.5/
        62/21) to vote against a resolution that authorized up to $6.8 million 
        to fund the 2009 Durban Review Conference preparatory process;
Whereas the United States has decided to withhold from its 2008 funding for the 
        United Nations an amount equivalent to the United States share of the 
        United Nations Human Rights Council-administered preparatory process for 
        the 2009 Durban Review Conference; and
Whereas, since the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, the need for a credible 
        global forum to review United Nations Member States' efforts to combat 
        racism remains urgent given the continuing scourge of racism and related 
        violence, including discrimination against persons of African descent, 
        Jewish, Muslim, caste, indigenous, Roma and Sinti, and other 
        communities, anti-migrant xenophobia, and incitement to racial and 
        religious hatred: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) acknowledges that the 2001 World Conference Against 
        Racism marked an important recognition of the historic wounds 
        caused by slavery, colonialism, and related ongoing racism and 
        racial discrimination, including the recognition of the 
        transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity, and that 
        people of African descent, people of Asian descent, and 
        indigenous peoples who were victims of these acts continue to 
        face discrimination and marginalization as a direct 
        consequence;
            (2) notes that the Human Rights Council agreed in 
        Resolution 3/2 on December 8, 2006, that the 2009 Durban Review 
        Conference would like other United Nations review conferences, 
        focus on countries' implementation of the many commitments to 
        fight racism and discrimination already affirmed in the 
        official government Durban Declaration and Plan of Action and 
        that there will be ``no renegotiation of the existing 
        agreements contained therein'';
            (3) commends the Governments of the United States, France, 
        Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands that 
        have declared their intentions not to participate in any United 
        Nations Durban Review Conference that supplants a discussion of 
        country commitments to combat contemporary forms of racism, 
        racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance with 
        a campaign that promotes hate, undermines human rights 
        standards, and damages the credibility of the United Nations 
        itself;
            (4) calls on the President to urge other heads of state to 
        condition participation in the 2009 Durban Review Conference 
        process on concrete action by the United Nations and United 
        Nations Member States to ensure that it and they will reject 
        any effort to inject anti-Semitism, hatred, and discrimination 
        in all its forms onto the agenda of the Conference;
            (5) calls on the Secretary of State to--
                    (A) initiate United States policy into action by 
                calling on counterparts, especially Pakistan as the 
                chair of the Organization of the Islamic Conference 
                (OIC) and Egypt as the head of the African Group, to 
                demand that they take prompt and effective measures to 
                avert what French President Nicolas Sarkozy described 
                as ``a repeat of the digression and extremes of 2001''; 
                and
                    (B) demarche foreign capitals raising the concerns 
                of Congress and to report to Congress on what steps the 
                United States and its allies have taken to address 
                these concerns;
            (6) commends the countries that joined the United States, 
        including the member states of the European Union, Albania, 
        Andorra, Australia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, 
        Israel, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, the 
        former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, Canada, and the 
        Republic of Korea, to vote to uphold earlier United Nations 
        consensus agreements to limit the scope and funding of the 2009 
        Durban Review Conference process;
            (7) urges those countries and all United Nations Member 
        States to condition any further support for the 2009 Durban 
        Review Conference process on the adherence to established human 
        rights standards and on the rejection of an agenda that incites 
        hatred against any group in the guise of criticism of a 
        particular government or that seeks to forge a global blasphemy 
        code;
            (8) reaffirms its abiding commitment to the cause of 
        combating continuing racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, 
        and related intolerance in all its forms including religious 
        intolerance;
            (9) urges all states to secure just treatment and the 
        realization of fundamental human rights for all as enshrined in 
        international human rights instruments, in particular the 
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International 
        Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the 
        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
            (10) commends the diverse civil society organizations that 
        have joined together to learn from the shortcomings of the 2001 
        World Conference Against Racism, and to work together in a 
        spirit of solidarity and mutual respect toward a 2009 Durban 
        Review Conference that rejects hatred in all its forms;
            (11) reaffirms that religious freedom is best preserved 
        through protection of religious exercise by individuals of all 
        faiths, without restricting the right of individuals of all 
        faiths to express their beliefs and consciences;
            (12) recognizes the purposeful attempts of some countries 
        to use inflammatory language and divisive tactics to divert the 
        2009 Durban Review Conference from the important goal of 
        eradicating global racism in order to foment anti-Semitism, 
        renegotiate commitments made at the 2001 World Conference 
        Against Racism, and prevent a focus on the lack of political 
        will to address the ongoing impact of racism in their own 
        countries and communities;
            (13) calls on United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon 
        to publicly urge the Human Rights Council to adhere to its 
        mandate and to the high responsibility and expectations placed 
        on it, and asks him to personally intervene to refocus the 2009 
        Durban Review Conference efforts on an actual review of what 
        United Nations Member States have done to fulfill their 
        commitments to combat racial discrimination and other 
        intolerance, and on concrete action to fight racism, anti-
        Semitism, and all forms of hatred; and
            (14) calls on the High Commissioner for Human Rights to 
        urge United Nations Member States to adhere to the agreed 
        framework of the 2009 Durban Review Conference and its 
        previously agreed upon goals and parameters and to urge Member 
        States of the preparatory committee to return to decisionmaking 
        by consensus.
                                 <all>
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