His seat will be left empty … France will not participate in the follow-up conference to the UN Conference against Racism, known as the “Durban Conference”, scheduled for September, due to the anti-Semitic statements to which it gave rise, he announced the Elysee on Friday.
Several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Canada and several European countries have already decided to boycott this meeting, organized by the United Nations on September 22 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the world conference against racism in 2001 in Durban ( South Africa).
“Concerned about the history of anti-Semitic statements made in the framework of the United Nations conference on racism, known as the Durban conference, the President of the Republic has decided that France will not participate in the follow-up conference that will take place this year ”Indicates the Elysee.
Many Western countries, including France, had already boycotted the follow-up conference in Durban in 2009, as well as the one in 2011, to speak out against the anti-Semitic statements made there.
The first Durban conference, from August 31 to September 8, 2001, just days before the terrorist attacks of September 11, was marked by deep divisions on the issues of anti-Semitism, colonialism and slavery. The United States and Israel left the conference protesting the tone of the meeting.
“Together with the universalism of human rights, France will continue to fight against all the forces of racism and will ensure that the follow-up conference in Durban is held in accordance with the founding principles of the United Nations,” adds the French Presidency.
In 2020, Emmanuel Macron again warned against “the unbearable resurgence of anti-Semitism in our Europe”, this “underground evil” that can “wear its face forever” or “borrow the new masks of anti-Zionism Islamist hatred.”