[Washington Post] Colum Lynch - The Obama administration on Thursday concluded its first round of UN negotiations on racism, pressing foreign governments to drop reparation demands for slavery and to desist from singling out Israel for criticism in a draft declaration to be presented at a UN conference in April. Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, dispatched Felice D. Gaer, a human rights advocate, and Betty King, a former U.S. diplomat, to Geneva to make the U.S. case in discussions on the draft declaration. The administration "is pushing back against efforts to brand Israel as racist in this conference," Gaer said, but cautioned that U.S. attendance at this week's final preparatory meeting does not mean the U.S. will participate in the conference.
2009-02-20 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive