Iranian Primes Durban II to single out Israel while Discriminating against Jewish Civil Society Print E-mail
Written by UN Watch   
Sunday, 22 June 2008
According to UN Watch, Iran was demonstrably acting in bad faith and applying a double standard by making invasive, repetitive and onerous demands of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), of the kind made of no other NGO. By their actions, Iran and its allies effectively rejected CIJA's application.

Apart from anti-Jewish animus, Iran's actions may also be partly motivated by Canada's lead role in a UN General Assembly resolution that spoke out for victims of Iranian human rights violations, said Neuer. Adopted in December, the text censured the fundamentalist regime for its violations against Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, Christians, Jews, Sufis, Sunni Muslims and Baha'is.


The only NGO active in the Israeli-Arab conflict to receive accreditation was the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (PGAAWC). PGAAWC is a network of NGOs focusing on separation barrier (“apartheid wall”) activities and the promotion of the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) campaign. The Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA) also submitted an application to attend the DRC. Despite support from the EU delegations and acceptance by the UN bureaucracy, Iran, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and the PA vetoed its application. CIJA subsequently withdrew its application after Iran made a “series of aggressive and seemingly endless objections” to the NGO's attempt to obtain accreditation for the conference. In total, forty-four NGOs were granted accreditation (7 accredited, 37 provisionally accepted, 1 withdrawal, 1 excluded) during the DRC’s first Preparatory Committee Meetings.   

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