SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United Nations Dur-
ban Review Conference (Durban II) Funding Prohibition 
Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) The 2001 United Nations World Conference 
Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia 
and Related Intolerance (‘‘Durban I Conference’’) 
was held in Durban, South Africa. 
(2) The Durban I Conference was used as a 
platform to advance anti-Semitism and, con-
sequently, the United States and Israeli delegates 
walked out. 
(3) Former United States Secretary of State 
Colin Powell gave the following statement after the 
Durban I Conference: ‘‘I know that you do not com-
bat racism by conferences that produce declarations 
containing hateful language, some of which is a 
throwback to the days of ‘Zionism equals racism;’ or 
support the idea that we have made too much of the 
Holocaust; or suggest that apartheid exists in Israel; 
or that single out only one country in the world— 
Israel—for censure and abuse.’’. 
(4) The 2009 United Nations Durban Review 
Conference (‘‘Durban II Conference’’) will be held 
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between April 20 and 24, 2009, in Geneva, Switzer-
land. 
(5) On December 22, 2007, the United States 
and 45 other United Nations member states voted 
not to support the Durban I Conference. 
(6) Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen 
announced on December 16, 2008, that the Nether-
lands was considering not participating in the Dur-
ban II Conference because ‘‘it seems like the sole in-
tention is to criticize Israel and condemn the West 
for slavery and its colonial history.’’. 
(7) Canada’s Multiculturalism Secretary of 
State, Jason Kennedy, announced on January 23, 
2008, that Canada will not participate in the Dur-
ban II Conference because ‘‘Canada is interested in 
combating racism, not promoting it . . . And Can-
ada has no intention of lending its good name and 
resources to such a systematic promotion of hatred 
and bigotry.’’. 
(8) The United Kingdom’s Europe Minister 
stated: ‘‘We will play no part in an international 
conference that exhibits the degree of anti-Semitism 
that was disgracefully on view on the previous occa-
sion.’’. 
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(9) The United States Congress unanimously 
passed House Resolution 136 on September 23, 
2008, which outlines five requirements for United 
States participation in the Durban II Conference: 
(A) No reaffirmation of Durban Declara-
tion and Plan of Action (Durban I) language 
singling out Israel for criticism. 
(B) No language focusing on any single 
country or conflict. 
(C) The text must focus on fighting racism 
and not any political issues. 
(D) The text must be cleansed of language 
restricting accepted human rights such as free 
speech. 
(E) Language on reparations should not be 
restricted to formulation in the Durban Dec-
laration and Plan of Action. 
(10) Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Min-
ister Tzipi Livni announced on November 19, 2008, 
that Israel will neither participate in nor legitimize 
the Durban II Conference. 
(11) United States Acting State Department 
Spokesman Robert Wood announced on February 
14, 2009: ‘‘The State Department will send a dele-
gation to the February 16–19 consultations for the 
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World Conference Against Racism as a means of 
evaluating the current direction of Conference prep-
arations and whether United States participation in 
the Conference itself is warranted . . . . Our partici-
pation in these informal negotiations does not indi-
cate—and should not be misconstrued to indicate— 
that the United States will participate in April in 
the World Conference Against Racism itself.’’. 
(12) United States Acting State Department 
Spokesman Robert Wood announced on February 
27, 2009: ‘‘The United States will not engage in fur-
ther negotiations on this [draft outcome document] 
text, nor will we participate in a conference based on 
this text.’’. 
(13) Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini 
announced on March 5, 2009, the withdrawal of the 
Italian delegation from the preparatory negotiations 
for the Durban II Conference due to ‘‘aggressive 
and anti-Semitic statements’’ in the draft of the 
event’s final document. 
(14) United States Acting Assistant Secretary 
of State for International Organization Affairs 
James Warlick stated on March 21, 2009: ‘‘Our 
conclusion was that there was just not the political 
will to work with us. Rather than give legitimacy to 
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a conference that has another agenda—not racism— 
but another agenda, we decided that we would step 
back.’’. 
(15) Pre-conference drafts for the Durban I 
Conference condemned Israel for allegedly pursing a 
racist Zionist agenda and committing crimes against 
humanity. 
(16) An African-led effort at the Durban I Con-
ference sought to include a demand for reparations 
from the West for slavery. 
(17) Conferees at the Durban I Conference 
tried to condemn the United States for refusing to 
adopt certain United Nations treaties. 
(18) The United States cannot accept treaty re-
quirements that are incompatible with the United 
States Constitution. 
(19) In December 2007, the United States dele-
gation to the United Nations rejected the United 
Nations biennial budget for 2008–2009 due, in part, 
because of proposals to fund the Durban II Con-
ference. 
(20) The chair of the Preparatory Committee 
for the Durban Review Conference is Libya, and the 
co-chairs include several countries such as Iran, 
Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, and Cuba which 
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