[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 42 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 42
Calling on the President and the Secretary of State to withhold United
States funding for and participation in the Durban Review Conference
and its preparatory activities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 9, 2009
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Burton of
Indiana, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Royce, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Wilson of South
Carolina, Mr. Poe of Texas, Mr. Bilirakis, and Mr. Garrett of New
Jersey) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling on the President and the Secretary of State to withhold United
States funding for and participation in the Durban Review Conference
and its preparatory activities, and for other purposes.
Whereas the United States is opposed to racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia, and related intolerance, and has long been a party to the
Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination;
Whereas expensive and politically skewed international conferences can disserve
and undermine the worthy goals that they are ostensibly convened to
support;
Whereas the goals of the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism--
held in Durban, South Africa and commonly referred to as the ``Durban
Conference''--were undermined by hateful, anti-Jewish rhetoric and anti-
Israel political agendas, prompting both Israel and the United States to
withdraw their delegations from the Conference;
Whereas during the preparations leading up to the World Conference Against
Racism, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson,
who served as Secretary-General of the conference, repeatedly failed to
publicly condemn efforts by member states of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference to single out Israel for criticism and to single out
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for discussion;
Whereas the official government declaration adopted by the World Conference
Against Racism, the ``Durban Declaration and Program of Action'',
focused on the ``plight of the Palestinian people under foreign
occupation'', and thereby singled out one regional conflict for
discussion and implicitly launched a false accusation against Israel of
racism towards the Palestinians;
Whereas on September 3, 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell explained the
withdrawal of the United States delegation 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 late United States Representative Tom Lantos, who participated as a
member of the United States delegation to the Durban Conference,
supported that delegation's withdrawal and wrote in 2002 that the
conference ``provided the world with a glimpse into the abyss of
international hate, discrimination and, indeed, racism'';
Whereas on December 19, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly approved a
resolution initiating preparations for a Durban Review Conference
(commonly referred to as ``Durban II'');
Whereas the Durban Review Conference will be held between April 20 and 24, 2009,
in Geneva, Switzerland;
Whereas the chair of the preparatory committee for the Durban Review Conference
is Libya, and the co-chairs include Iran, Pakistan, and Cuba;
Whereas throughout the preparatory process for the Durban Review Conference,
member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference have urged
that the conference again focus criticism on Israel and single out the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict for discussion;
Whereas throughout the preparatory process for the Durban Review Conference,
member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference have also
urged that the Durban Review Conference consider global legal codes that
would impose restrictions on the freedoms of religion, expression,
thought, conscience, the media, and opinion, contrary to fundamental
freedoms recognized in the provisions of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights;
Whereas in testimony before the House of Representatives on April 2, 2008, then-
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations Kristen
Silverberg stated that the United States had decided against
participating in preparatory activities for the Durban Review Conference
because ``[there is] absolutely no case to be made for participating in
something that is going to be a repeat of Durban I. We don't have any
confidence that this will be any better than Durban I'';
Whereas Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, United States Permanent Representative to the
United Nations, stated on April 8, 2008, that ``we have made clear that
the United States is not participating in the [Durban Review Conference]
process and we have no plans to do so. We will not participate unless it
is proven that the conference will not be used as a platform for anti-
Semitic behavior'';
Whereas on January 23, 2008, Canada's secretary of state for multiculturalism
and Canadian identity, Jason Kenney, announced that Canada would not
participate in the Durban Review Conference, stating that ``Canada is
interested in combating racism, not promoting it . . . Our considered
judgment having participated in the preparatory meetings, was that we
were set for the replay of Durban I. And Canada has no intention of
lending its good name and resources to such a systematic promotion of
hatred and bigotry'';
Whereas on September 23, 2008, the House of Representatives passed House
Resolution 1361, which, among other things, called on the President to
``urge other heads of state to condition participation in the 2009
Durban Review Conference on concrete action by the United Nations and
United Nations Member States to ensure that it is not a forum to
demonize any group, or incite anti-Semitism, hatred, or violence against
members of any group or to call into question the existence of any
state'' and urged all United Nations Member States ``not to support a
2009 Durban Review Conference process that fails to adhere to
established human rights standards and to reject 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'';
Whereas the draft declaration or ``draft outcome document'' published at the
second preparatory session of the Durban Review Conference in October
2008 again implicitly criticized Israel, singled out the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict for discussion, and advocated global legal codes
that impose restrictions on the freedoms of religion, expression,
thought, conscience, the media, and opinion;
Whereas in December of 2008, the intersessional working group, chaired by
Russia, published on the website of the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights a revised ``draft outcome document''
that reaffirmed the biased 2001 Durban Declaration and Plan of Action
``in its entirety''; ratcheted up implicit criticism of Israel and
singling-out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for discussion, and
also increased its calls for global legal codes that impose restrictions
on the freedoms of religion, expression, thought, conscience, the media,
and opinion;
Whereas the present United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and
Secretary-General of the 2009 Durban Review Conference, Dr. Navanethem
Pillay, has sought to minimize the level of hateful, anti-Jewish
rhetoric and anti-Israel political agendas present at the 2001 Durban
Conference, describing it as merely ``the virulent anti-Semitic behavior
of a few non-governmental organizations on the sidelines'' and praising
the biased Durban Declaration and Program of Action as ``[t]he legacy of
this Conference'';
Whereas the present High Commissioner Pillay has repeatedly and publicly
criticized nations that have announced that they do not plan to
participate in the Durban Review Conference or are considering not
participating, but she has yet to publicly criticize countries who have
thus far succeeded in using the conference's preparatory conference to
criticize Israel and to attempt to restrict fundamental freedoms;
Whereas a United Nations press release on September 8, 2008, regarding an
address by High Commissioner Pillay, disturbingly dismissed objections
raised by non-governmental organizations to the Durban Review Conference
as ``ferocious, and often distorted, criticism by certain lobby groups
focused on single issues'';
Whereas on November 19, 2008, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced
that Israel would not participate in the Durban Review Conference and
called on other nations ``not to participate in the conference, which
seeks to legitimize hatred and racism'';
Whereas on December 16, 2008, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen announced
that the Netherlands was considering not participating in the Durban
Review Conference, stating ``It seems like the sole intention is to
criticize Israel and condemn the West for slavery and its colonial
history . . . We will take every opportunity at this time to fight
racism and discrimination but we will not be used for a propaganda
circus'';
Whereas to date, over $2,000,000 from the United Nations regular budget has been
expended on Durban Review Conference preparatory activities, and on
December 24, 2008, the United Nations General Assembly approved a
program budget for the biennium 2008-2009 that, over the objections of
the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and other
prominent Member States, will provide a significant portion of the
funding for the Durban Review Conference and its preparatory activities
from the United Nations regular budget;
Whereas the United States is the largest contributor to the United Nations
system, and is assessed for a full 22 percent of the United Nations
regular budget, which is funded by assessed contributions from Member
States;
Whereas funding Durban Review Conference activities through the United Nations
regular budget would result in United States taxpayer dollars being used
for those purposes;
Whereas the United States decided to withhold from its 2008 funding for the
United Nations regular budget an amount equivalent to the United States
share of the United Nations Human Rights Council budget, including its
share of the Council-administered preparatory process for the 2009
Durban Review Conference;
Whereas the preparation and management of the Durban Review Conference has been
committed to the United Nations Human Rights Council; and
Whereas during the 110th Congress the House of Representatives approved a
prohibition on United States funding for the United Nations Human Rights
Council, and has strongly condemned the Council for ignoring severe
human rights issues in other countries, while choosing to unfairly
target the State of Israel: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) reaffirms the fundamental commitment of the United
States to combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia,
and related intolerance;
(2) believes strongly that the 2009 Durban Review
Conference, like its 2001 predecessor, has been subverted by
members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and
irredeemably distorted into a forum for anti-Israel and anti-
Semitic activity;
(3) urges the President and the Secretary of State to build
upon present United States policy by publicly declaring that
the United States will not fund or participate in any portion
of the Durban Review Conference or its preparatory activities;
(4) urges the President and the Secretary of State to
withhold from United States funding for the United Nations
regular budget an amount equivalent to the United States share
of assessed contributions for the Durban Review Conference and
its preparatory activities;
(5) urges the President and the Secretary of State to lead
a high-level diplomatic effort to encourage other responsible
nations to not fund or participate in any portion of the Durban
Review Conference or its preparatory activities;
(6) commends the governments of Canada and Israel for
publicly refusing to fund or participate in the Durban Review
Conference; and
(7) calls upon the President and the Secretary of State to
lead a high-level diplomatic effort to explore credible,
alternative forums for combating racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia, and related intolerance.
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