Durban II: The West may be a no-show

The EU is threatening to boycott Durban II, which would just about kill any semblance of legitimacy.

Good.

The EU threatened on Monday to withdraw from a UN conference on racism next month unless its final declaration is changed, joining a number of countries concerned the meeting could become an anti-Semitic forum.

“The main voices were very skeptical about the direction of the papers prepared there,” Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said after EU foreign ministers discussed the Geneva meeting on Monday.

“Probably we will send now from the EU a suggestion of ours and if the conference papers are in line with that, we will stay, otherwise there is a strong call to withdraw,” said Schwarzenberg, who chaired the talks.

“Some of the wording (in the conference’s draft documents) is considered to be anti-Semitic,” one EU diplomat said.

The bloc was also concerned about the mention of defamation against religion, he said. “The EU thinks this has nothing to do with human rights,” the diplomat told Reuters.

Of course, I’ll believe it when I see it—but it’s looking hopeful.