ADL Urges U.S. Reps of 11 International Groups to Stay Away from UN Crime Confab

The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith today called on American representatives of 11 international organizations invited to attend the United Nations congress on crime in Geneva to decline “so long as the Palestine Liberation Organization is welcomed as a participant.” Lawrence Peirez, chairman of ADL’s national civil rights committee, said attendance by the Americans at the crime conference next month along with the terrorist group “would make a mockery” of the ideals of justice and crime prevention to which their organizations are committed.

Peirez added that “a conference devoted to the prevention of crime obviously should not permit the participation of a criminally violent organization whose activities have resulted in the deliberate murder of countless innocent victims–men, women and children–across the world.” He asserted that declining the invitation to participate in the conference alongside the PLO would be “an indication to all that Americans refuse to surrender their tradition of justices and morality.”

In his letter to the worldwide organizations’ representatives, Peirez said they were “in a unique position to speak out on this issue of critical importance to the security of people throughout the world.” His request was addressed to leading representatives of the International Association of Penal Law, Amnesty International, International Society of Social Defense, International League for the Rights of Man, World Psychiatric Association, The Salvation Army, International Society of Criminology, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Federation of United Nations Associations, and the International Prisoners Aid Association.