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Obama Moves to Reverse Bush Boycott of UN Conference on Racism
(Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama moved toward reversing the Bush administration's boycott of the United Nations Conference Against Racism by joining talks this week on the proposed outcome declaration. Obama sent a delegation to negotiations that began today in Geneva, and the U.S. will consider attending the April 20-24 conference, according to the State Department. The U.S. didn't attend two preparatory meetings last year, after walking out of the first UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, eight years ago to protest criticism of Israel. "We are here to explore with you whether it is possible to move beyond our differences and focus the Durban Review Conference on the racism and xenophobia that seriously persist today in our world," Mark Storella, head of the U.S. delegation, said in a statement to the opening of the Geneva meeting, according to a transcript provided by the UN. Posted by: Fred 2009-03-15 |
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