Italy backs out of U.N. racism conference

ROME, March 5 (UPI) -- Italy will not participate in the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, charging the conference draft declaration is anti-Semitic, officials said Thursday.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said part of the declaration is "totally unacceptable," the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The United States, Israel and Canada have already declined to participate in the conference, scheduled for Geneva in late April. France, Britain and the Netherlands are considering the step.

The conference is a follow-up to a 2001 meeting in Durban, South Africa, which was marked by wrangling over language on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which occurred three days after the conference ended, overshadowed the disputes.

The World Jewish Congress and European Jewish Congress have called for a boycott of the Geneva conference. Ronald Lauder, president of the WJC, said the conference is "about promoting anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda within the framework of the United Nations."