Geneva: Diplomats at the United Nations sought on Tuesday to advance an anti-racism declaration and brush off comments from Iran's President that prompted a rare conference walk-out.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the only head of state to attend the UN's conference on racism, called Israel a ''totally racist government'' in his address on its opening day on Monday.
Dozens of delegations then streamed out, including all 23 of the European Union states present. Most later returned, except the Czech Republic which said it would join Western powers boycotting the meeting.
The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and four EU states -- Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic -- are sitting it out along with Israel to avoid giving legitimacy to criticism of the Jewish state.
Delegates still present in Geneva are hoping to promptly adopt the new declaration -- which addresses issues including attacks on foreign workers and the links between poverty and discrimination -- to steady the troubled meeting.
But the West Asia continued to loom over the meeting yesterday, with Jewish groups denouncing the Iranian speech as scandalous and Arab countries raising concerns about conditions in Israeli-occupied territories.
Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Malki denounced to applause the Israeli occupation as ''the worst violation of human rights'' and ''the ugliest face of racism and racial discrimination.''
''The continuation of the suffering of the Palestinian people which faces the worst form of racist policy by the occupying power must stop,'' he said, calling Israel's West Bank barrier a ''wall of racial segregation.''
LONG ROAD' AHEAD
Lesotho Justice Minister Mpea Mahase-Moiloa said that the boycotts were regrettable and signalled there was much work ahead to address the world's racial and ethnic tensions.
''This is a clear testimony of the long road yet to be travelled,'' she told the UN plenary. Like other delegates addressing the conference as it resumed on Tuesday morning, she did not refer specifically to Ahmadinejad's remarks or the walk-out.
Pointed criticism of Israel, including Arab state efforts to define Zionism as racist, caused the United States and Israel to walk out of the last major U.N. conference on racism in 2001.
Washington's main reservation about joining the current meeting was an introductory line in its draft declaration that ''reaffirms'' the text adopted eight years ago. While the Geneva document excludes references to Israel and the Middle East, the 2001 text includes six paragraphs on those subjects.
''It will be a defeat for Ahmadinejad because there will be, I hope by tonight, this declaration,'' French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told radio station Europe 1. France is represented at the meeting by its Geneva-based ambassador.
Juliette de Rivero of Human Rights Watch said that it was important for countries to stand their ground at the United Nations, and not let the Iranian remarks derail their efforts.
''The best response to Ahmadinejad's inflammatory rhetoric is to stay in Geneva and rebut it,'' she said in a statement.
''Despite this ugly speech, governments can still rescue the conference and ensure that the world agrees to a strong mandate for the UN to tackle racism.''
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