Canadian Minister Kenney to Address New York Conference "The Perils of Global Intolerance: The United Nations & Durban III"

NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Conference organizers announced today that Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, the Honorable Jason Kenney, will be among the speakers addressing a day-long event in New York City on September 22nd challenging the use of the United Nations as a platform for anti-Semitism and intolerance at the highly controversial event known as "Durban III." The conference, hosted by the Hudson Institute and the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, will coincide with the UN meeting planned to "commemorate" the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration -- which charges Israel and only Israel with racism.

It was Minister Kenney who announced last November that Canada would be the first country to pull-out of Durban III. "Just as Canada was the first in the world to withdraw from Durban 2, so too Canada will lead by not attending this new Durban event," said Minister Kenney. "Our government has lost faith in the Durban process. We will not be part of this event, which commemorates an agenda that promotes racism rather than combats it."

"Canada's contribution to combating anti-Semitism and the selective demonization of Israel is extraordinary," said Conference organizer, Anne Bayefsky, a Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute and Director of the Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.  "The Durban conference legitimized hate speech on a global scale," noted Bayefsky, "and Minister Kenney's participation in our event underscores Canada's continuing leadership and commitment to the UN Charter's promise of equality for all people and all nations large and small."

Other speakers include Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, former U.S. UN Ambassador John Bolton, former Governor Mike Huckabee, world-renowned scholar Bernard Lewis, Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, Academy-award winning actor Jon Voight, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Harvard Professor and best-selling author Alan Dershowitz, a psychiatrist named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world Wafa Sultan, Sudanese human rights activist Simon Deng, former Israeli UN Ambassador Dore Gold, Harvard Professor and National Humanities Medal recipient Ruth Wisse, veteran award-winning journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, Hoover Institution Fellow and National Humanities Medal recipient Shelby Steele, bestselling author and award-winning UK journalist Douglas Murray, and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy Zuhdi Jasser.

To obtain press credentials to attend the conference contact [email protected]

For more information, see www.DurbanWatch.com.

About the Hosts:

Hudson Institute is a nonpartisan policy research organization dedicated to innovative research and analysis. Founded in 1961, Hudson is celebrating a half century of forging ideas that promote security, prosperity, and freedom. http://www.hudson.org

The Touro College Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust aims to understand and evaluate contemporary mechanisms for protecting human rights and the rule of law in view of the lessons of the Holocaust and its aftermath. http://www.touro.edu/ihrh  

SOURCE Hudson Institute