The Netherlands plans to boycott the Duban IV conference to be held this fall in New York, becoming the seventh nation to shun the event that is historically linked with hatred of Jews and Israel.
"This decision was taken due to the history of the Durban-process, the risk that this platform will once again be misused for antisemitic expressions and because of the conference’ disproportionate, one-sided focus on Israel, as exemplified in the original Durban declaration," said Dutch Foreign Minister Steph Blok.
The event formally known as the World Conference against Racism will be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
However, it is linked with events that occurred at a preceding conference in the city of Durban, South Africa in 2001, in which NGOs distributed rabidly anti-Jewish and anti-Israel material, accusing Israel of genocide and questioning whether Hitler was right. Copies of the infamous antisemitic trope Protocols of the Elders of Zion were sold at the event.
The United States and Israel walked out of the initial conference. Follow up conferences dubbed Durban II and III were boycotted by 10 and 15 countries, according to the NGO UN Watch.
The Netherlands has boycotted both those conferences in the past and now plans to continued with that policy.
"The Netherlands does not intend to participate in the Durban-IV conference," Blok told the Dutch parliament on Tuesday.
"The Netherlands remains committed to fighting racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and islamophobia within the UN and beyond," Blok added.
Other countries who intend to boycott Durban IV include: the US, Israel, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Hungary.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan tweeted, "We thank our friends @NLatUN who won’t attend the disgraceful UN event to mark the antisemitic Durban Conference!"
We thank our friends @NLatUN who won’t attend the disgraceful UN event to mark the antisemitic Durban Conference!I call on all countries to join @AustraliaUN @CanadaUN @USUN @UKUN_NewYork & @HUNMissionToUN to show the UN how to combat racism w/o politicshttps://t.co/36EwTmRy3p
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) July 9, 2021