Wiesenthal Centre to 45 Human Rights Funding Agencies: "Refuse to Sponsor Antisemitism at Forthcoming United Nations Conference on Racism (aka 'Durban II')"

April 10, 2008

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE
66 rue Laugier - 75017 Paris
Tel. +33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401
e-mail: csweurope@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In a letter to the leading officials of 45 human rights funding agencies, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre urged them to publicly refuse their sponsorship to any group that had incited to antisemitism at the 2001United Nations World Conference against Racism (WCAR) held in Durban, South Africa, and that might seek their sponsorship or funding for the forthcoming Durban Review Conference ("Durban II").

The Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, and its Associate Dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, noted that the sponsors are "renowned for [their] support of human rights and anti-discrimination causes. Yet, the noble spirit enunciated in [their] mission statement was not consonant with funding for 'Durban I'". They continued, "Such funding was dramatically hijacked for incitement to hatred and violence. Indeed, subsidies for hate particularly served to raise the volume and pitch of antisemitic expression to levels unheard since the Holocaust."

Rabbi Cooper explained that "this takeover of 'Durban I' was framed at its Preparatory Commissions (PrepComs) and reached a paroxysm of Jew-hatred at the final PrepCom in Tehran, from which Jewish organizations - as also Bahai, gay and several women's groups – were excluded. Regimes, most notorious for their human rights violations, had set the agenda. Yet, the most extreme exhibitions of threat and violence were manifested by NGOs funded perhaps by your organization or its peers."

Dr Samuels stated that "the Working Group preparing 'Durban II' is led by such states as Libya, Iran, Cuba, pointing to – at best – a repeat performance. 'Durban I' set a new baseline for antisemitic violence around the globe. 'Durban II' must not be allowed to become another racist hatefest."

He added that "the Simon Wiesenthal Centre was the only Jewish organization elected to the WCAR NGO Forum International Steering Committee. There, we were dubbed 'the World Jew' and subsequently expelled. Physical intimidation and heckling obstructed any discussion of antisemitism while neo-Nazi slogans, caricatures and texts were displayed at every, ostensibly, 'anti-racist' demonstration. That experience besmirched the good name of the United Nations and of all the "Durban I" funding agencies and sponsors."

The Centre called on each of the sponsors to "publicly declare [their] refusal to sponsor or subsidize any group, NGO or government that has incited to antisemitism by demonizing, delegitimizing or discriminating against the Jewish people or individual Jews, whatever their nationality.

Such behaviour includes the denial of the Holocaust and assaults upon the right of Jews to their sovereign identity within the family of nations."

The letter urged that this commitment "reflect the 2004 Working Definition of Antisemitism formulated by the European Monitoring Centre (now known as the Fundamental Rights Agency), and the 2004 Berlin Declaration on Antisemitism of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)."

Samuels and Cooper alerted the sponsors that, "should [their] organization, indeed, sponsor such behaviour in 'Durban II', [they] would not only violate these international instruments and betray [their] fiduciary responsibility; [they] would be considered complicit in the instigation of potential hate-crime and its consequences."

The letter concluded, "Charity in the name of anti-racism cannot, once again, be abused by racists and hatemongers. We await your response."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58 or Rabbi Abraham Cooper at +1.310.210.9750

The following leading officials of the 45 funding agencies were approached by the Wiesenthal Centre:

- American Express Foundation: Timothy J. McClimon, President and CEO

- American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA): William D. Corcoran, President/CEO

- Amnesty International: Irene Khan, Secretary General

- Amos Trust, United Kingdom: Garth Hewitt, Director and Founder

- Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA): Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation

- Caritas: Lesley-Anne Knight, Secretary General

- Christian Aid, United Kingdom: John Gladwin, Chair

- Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE): Eva Lystad, CARE International Chairperson

- DanChurchAid, Denmark: Henrik Stubkjær, General Secretary

- Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA): Ulla Tørnæs, Minister for Development Cooperation

- Department for International Development (DFID, United Kingdom): Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for International Development

- Direct Relief International: Thomas Tighe, President and Chief Executive Officer

- Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN): Marc Schade-Poulsen, Executive Director

- European Union initiatives:

European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR): Richelle Koos, Director-General Geographical coordination and supervision for the Mediterranean and Middle

East: Hans Duynhouwer, Head of Unit

European Commission Technical Assistance office for the West Bank & Gaza

Strip: John Kjaer, Head of EC Representation

- Ford Foundation, USA: Kathryn S. Fuller, Chair of the Board

- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Germany: Anke Fuchs, Chair of the Board

- Grassroots International, USA: Clark Taylor, Chair

- Human Rights Watch: Jane Olson, Chair

- Interfaith International: Dr. Charles Graves, Secretary-General

- International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development - Rights and Democracy (ICHRDD, Canada): Janice Stein, Chair of the Board

- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, USA: Jonathan F. Fanton, President

- Medecins du Monde : Benjamin Nguyen, Director of the International Secretariat

- Medecins Sans Frontieres: Dr Christophe Fournier, President

- Medical Aid for Palestinians, United Kingdom: Mr Brian Constant CBE, Chairman

- Mennonite Central Committee (MCC, USA): Ron Dueck, Chair

- Mercy Corps, USA: Linda A. Mason, Chair

- New Israel Fund, USA: Peter Edelman (Washington), President

- Open Society Institute (OSI, USA): George Soros, Founder and Chairman

- Oxfam: Keith Johnston, Chair

- Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, USA: Steve Sosebee, President & CEO

- Pax Christi International (PCI) : Claudette Antoine Werleigh , Secretary General

- Save the Children Fund: Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Secretary-General

- Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC): Walter Fust, Director-General

- Terre des Hommes: Raffaele K. Salinari, President

- UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

(UNRWA): Matthias Burchard, Head, Representative Office Geneva

- United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF): Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director

- United States Agency for International Development (USAID): Henrietta H.

Fore, Administrator and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance

- War on Want, UK: Sue Branford, Chair

- World Bank PNGO Project: Jeffrey Gutman, Head of Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS)

- World Council of Churches: Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, General Secretary

- World Vision International: Dean R. Hirsch, President and CEO

- YMCA: Martin Meissner, President

- YWCA: Susan Brennan, President

Wiesenthal Centre to 45 Human Rights Funding Agencies: "Refuse to Sponsor Antisemitism at Forthcoming United Nations Conference on Racism (aka 'Durban II')"

April 10, 2008

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