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- Archive 2019
- 2015 Elections: 11 new BME MP’s make history
- 70th Anniversary of the Partition of India
- Black Church Manifesto Questionnaire
- Brett Bailey: Exhibit B
- Briefing Paper: Ethnic Minorities in Politics and Public Life
- Civil Rights Leader Ratna Lachman dies
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- Gary Younge Book Sale
- George Osborne's budget increases racial disadvantage
- Goldsmiths Students' Union External Trustee
- International Commissioners condemn the appalling murder of Tyre Nichols
- Iqbal Wahhab OBE empowers Togo prisoners
- Job Vacancy: Head of Campaigns and Communications
- Media and Public Relations Officer for Jean Lambert MEP (full-time)
- Number 10 statement - race disparity unit
- Pathway to Success 2022
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- Rashan Charles had no Illegal Drugs
- Serena Williams: Black women should demand equal pay
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- The Colour of Power 2021
- The Power of Poetry
- The UK election voter registration countdown begins now
- Volunteering roles at Community Alliance Lewisham (CAL)
Britain to boycott UN anti-racism conference
Britain will boycott a United Nations event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the World Conference on Racism on September 22 due to the anti-Semitic atmosphere in which the conference was held.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said the event was not one to be celebrated as it was an unpleasant and divisive chapter in the UN's history.
Hague said,
“The British Government remains fully committed to tackling all forms of racism, both domestically and internationally, something recognised by the recent report of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The United Nations is the right place to discuss these important issues, in a serious way that delivers genuine progress. The UK continues our work with the UN to implement many of the commitments from the 2001 World Conference Against Racism.”
In 2001 the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action was agreed at the World Conference Against Racism. The 2001 conference was aimed at furthering the global fight against racism. However, it was marred by anti-Semitic remarks, as was the April 2009 UN Durban Review Conference.
A row over the treatment of Zionism in a draft text and efforts to condemn Israel’s treatment of Palestinians prompted walkouts and it ended in bitter chaos.
In 2009 the UK representative to the conference walked out after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his speech to launch an outspoken attack on Israel.
Britain’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva Peter Gooderham joined a mass departure by dozens of European diplomats after Mr Ahmadinejad said the Israeli state was created by “military aggressions to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering” from the Second World War.
Prime Minister David Cameron said,
”Ten years ago, the World Conference on Racism saw open displays of unpleasant and deplorable anti-Semitism. It would be wrong to commemorate those displays. Indeed, they should be condemned. And that’s why the UK will play no part in this conference.”