The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
April 14, 2009

Obama Appears Set to Boycott UN Racism Conference
-------------------------------------------------



The Washington Post reports the Obama administration appears to be
standing by its decision to boycott the World Conference Against Racism
next week in Geneva, despite efforts to focus and tone down language in
a draft conference document critical of Israel. Israel and several
Jewish advocacy groups have urged the United States and other nations
not to take part in the conference. But a number of other groups,
including Trans Africa and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, are urging the
Obama administration to participate in the conference. Imani Countess of
Trans Africa said, “For President Bush not to participate, that would
have been expected. For Barack Obama’s administration not to participate
sends a disappointing signal. It says these issues are not important.”



.