Iran president triggers EU walkout
Iran”s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triggered a mass walkout of a major United Nations anti-racism conference on Monday by launching a verbal onslaught against "cruel" Israel.
The meeting which had already been boycotted by several Western countries such as the United States and Australia, as well as Israel, was plunged into further controversy as Ahmadinejad took to the stage.
Several demonstrators were ejected as the Iranian president began his speech at the conference in Geneva and soon afterwards representatives of 23 European Union delegations quit the conference room in protest at some of his comments.
Ahmadinejad, who has previously called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map, criticised the creation of a "totally racist government in occupied Palestine" in 1948, calling it "the most cruel and racist regime".
"They sent migrants from Europe, the … in order to establish a racist government in the occupied Palestine," he added.
But while the speech from the Iranian leader, who has also described the Nazi Holocaust as a "myth", was shunned by Western powers, other delegates who stayed to hear him speak greeted his words with applause.
His address came after he held talks with UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, who had kicked off the conference by criticising countries who decided to stay away from Geneva.
"Some nations, who by rights should be helping to forge a path to a better future, are not here," Ban said before meeting with Ahmadinejad.
Although there was no immediate word from Ban after the Iranian”s speech, a spokesman for the UN human rights chief said it was "completely inappropriate".
"We strongly deplore the language used by the president of Iran," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
"In our view, the speech was completely inappropriate at a conference designed to nurture diversity and tolerance."
In a later press conference, Ahmadinehjad defended his comments and said those who had boycotted the meeting were guilty of "arrogance and selfishness."
Even before the speech, the diplomatic fallout from Ahmadinejad”s presence in Geneva was spreading as recalled its ambassador in protest at the Swiss president”s decision to meet Ahmadinejad — the Iranian”s first formal meeting with a Western head of state since taking office in 2005.
Israel”s foreign ministry also criticised Ban Ki-moon for meeting Ahmadinejad, saying it was regrettable that he "thought it advisable to meet the greatest denier who heads a UN member state".
Four EU nations were among a group of nine countries — including the United States — which boycotted the meeting.
The remaining 23 EU countries that did attend the event had warned that they would walk out if Ahmadinejad made "anti-Semitic accusations" during the event.
The government said the content of the speech made a walkout inevitable.
The United Nations conference that opened on Monday in Geneva had a goal that should have united and mobilised the international community: the struggle against all forms of racism," said President Nicolas Sarkozy”s office.
"The speech given by the President of Iran was the exact opposite: an intolerable appeal to racist hate, it tramples on the ideals and values recorded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
At least three demonstrators, dressed as clowns and shouting "racist, racist," were hustled out of the conference as Ahmadinejad got up to speak.
The French Union of Jewish Students claimed responsibility for the incident, in a statement that denounced the five-day conference as a "masquerade."
The walkout was a repeat of the last such conference against racism held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 when US and Israeli delegates stormed off over comments by delegates equating Zionism with racism.
The five-day Geneva meeting is meant to take stock of progress in fighting racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance since Durban.
But Pillay underlined recently the goals set then had not been achieved.