- BERLIN: Germany says it will stay away from the so-called Durban conference against racism later this month because of concerns about anti-Semitism.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday that Berlin couldn’t rule out the conference in UN headquarters in New York “being misused for anti-Semitic statements, as was already the case at previous conferences.”
Westerwelle said the decision was “an expression of our special responsibility toward Israel.” He stressed that it doesn’t change Germany’s commitment to fighting racism and discrimination.
President Barack Obama’s administration has already said that it will boycott the conference.
The meeting marks the 10-year commemoration of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, held in Durban.