Islamists try to hijack UN anti-racism conference to turn it into an “Islamophobia” jamboree

The UN is being pressured to “come up with solutions” to the alleged rise of “Islamophobia” by the Muslim bloc representatives. The platform for this is a UN conference on racism which is being planned for 2009.

At a preliminary hearing in Geneva last week, representatives of the 56-nation Organisation for Islamic Conference (OIC) demanded that Islam should be high on the agenda – working on the assumption that “Islamophobia” is the same as, or a form of, racism.

According to a released statement, Pakistan’s representative to the U.N., Masood Khan, declared at a meeting of the planning body, or "prepcom bureau" that: "The world since 2001 has not remained static and witnessed new forms of racism and racial discrimination." Speaking on behalf of the OIC, Khan told the meeting that "there has been a stark rise in hate crimes, discrimination, racial profiling and intolerance against Muslims in many countries."

He also called for the 2009 gathering to focus on "the continued plight of Palestinian people and non-recognition of their inalienable right to self-determination."

This suggests that if the planning body has its way, the review conference may echo a major theme of the 2001 Durban meeting. Critics of that meeting, including the U.S. government, said the Durban conference was tarnished by a strong anti-Israel bias, as some participants there had tried to revive the U.N.'s earlier "Zionism equals racism" position.

Iran’s delegate, Seyed Mohammad Kazem Sajjadpour, referred in his speech Monday to "new forms of racism" after 9/11, "under the pretext of so-called war against terror."

The envoy for another prepcom bureau member, Egypt, speaking on behalf of the African nations, raised concerns including "the Israeli occupation of Palestine" and the publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons caricaturing Mohammed, "which deeply hurt over a billion Muslims around the world."

The 2009 meeting is currently being called the "Durban review conference." Critics have labeled it "Durban II" – not a reference to the venue, which has yet to be decided, but because they predict a repeat of some of the controversies that prompted a walk-out by the U.S. delegation in 2001.

The Hudson Institute's “Eye on the U.N.” project, which is observing the process in Geneva, described it last week as the U.N.'s "latest anti-Jewish and anti-American extravaganza."

U.N.-watchers’ concerns have been reinforced by the appointment of Libya to chair the prepcom bureau, and the inclusion among its 20 members of countries such as Cuba, Iran and Pakistan. The countries were elected by the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body, which has itself been criticized by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others for anti-Israel bias.