New York, N.Y., November 27, 2002 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed deep disappointment with a United Nations Third Committee Resolution on racism, calling it a troubling expansion of the Durban Declaration that was passed at the UN World Conference on Racism. In a statement, Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said:

We are concerned by the Third Committee resolution's broadened implementation of the Durban Declaration that was passed at the UN World Conference on Racism. The Durban final document and the process surrounding its development remain deeply tainted by the one-sided targeting of the Jewish state. Efforts to impose the Durban documents as a road map for a global effort against racism are tainted by this bias as well as the blatant anti-Jewish targeting which infused the conference proceedings.

Letter to UN Ambassadors

While we welcome efforts to add references to anti-Semitism to the final draft of the document, we remain troubled that the original proposal sponsored by a majority of UN member states was introduced without any mention of anti-Semitism. At a time when anti-Semitism is reemerging on a global scale, that initial omission sends a dangerous signal about the United Nations' commitment to the fight against what remains a pernicious form of religious intolerance and an assault on the fundamentals of human dignity and human rights.

Prior to the Third Committee approval of the resolution, ADL wrote to more than 50 U.N. Ambassadors, urging them to oppose the resolution on the grounds that it failed to "affirm the timeliness and urgency of combating anti-Semitism."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.