The United Nations is planning a conference that, instead of serving the noble cause of fighting racism, will serve as a forum for dictatorships to attack democracies and work to restrict their freedoms. At risk are freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the ability to respond to national security crises within the current international legal framework. This conference, the follow-up to 2001 World Conference Against Racism is slated to take place in Geneva on April 20-24, 2009.

Operating under the discredited Human Rights Council planning committee the Durban Review Conference preparatory committee is chaired by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s representative to the UN. Other countries with questionable records on racism and human rights including Cuba, Iran, Pakistan and Russia are also on the committee.