Topic: Eliminating Racism
Country: Netherlands
Delegate Name: Elena Misailedes
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Netherlands position papers GLIMUN 2009 committees
In many developed nations, the issue of racism has been eradicated in government institutions and is generally perceived by the populace as "bad". In other, less developed parts of the world, however, institutional and cultural racism is not only alive and well but lying at the root of many civil and international conflicts, particularly in unstable regions such as the Middle East. These conflicts, removed by less that a century from such horrific and well-known racial clashes as the Holocaust and the Apartheid system in South Africa, represent the failure of the global population to learn from the past and adapt current policies in order to prevent such tragedies from occurring once again. Recognizing these deficiencies and correcting them before the inception of further violence, then, is absolutely imperative.
In the interest of avoiding violent racial conflict and protecting the world's population from "the scourge of war" (UN Charter: Preamble), it is absolutely the duty of the United Nations organization to regulate, as much as possible, the discontinuation of institutional racism worldwide. Previous UN sponsored attempts at accomplishing such an aim, however, have been inherently misguided and inappropriately conducted. The 2009 Geneva Conference on Racism is an example of such unbecoming attempts to eliminate racism. Under the guise of an unbiased and well-intentioned gathering of member states, the United Nations endorsed the use of speakers such an Iranian President and vehement anti-Semite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Under these conditions, such a conference would undoubtedly become a public platform for anti-Israel sentiments, defeating the proposed goal of an anti-racism conference int he first place. It is for this reason that the Kingdom of the Netherlands chose to boycott the Geneva 2009 Racism Conference.
Keeping these prior failures in mind, it is necessary that any discussion surrounding the elimination of racism be conducted only if each member state and its subsequent ideology are represented on equal terms in order to avoid an outburst of anti-Semitic views. This posture is only fitting in keeping with the nobility of the goal of elimination racism.
