The 2009 U.N. World Conference Against Racism will be held in Geneva. U.N. member-states decided Monday to hold the conference in the Swiss city rather than in Durban, the site in 2001. The conference in the South African city was widely criticized for singling out Israel as the world’s most racist state. Jewish activists and Western diplomats had hoped the conference would be held on U.N. grounds in either Geneva or New York, where security and protocol would be strictly enforced and avoid the more chaotic scenes that marred the 2001 event. Israel, Canada and the United States have indicated they will boycott the 2009 event, which is slated for April 20-24, as they suspect that Israel again will be targeted unfairly with harsh rhetoric.
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