Iran and Libya on UN Racism Committee...

Yet another reason why the UN is an obscene joke.

Iran, whose President has called for Israel’s destruction and made repeated statements denying the existence of the Holocaust, was elected by the United Nations to seat in a committee which is meeting for the first time this week in Geneva to prepare the next UN World Conference against Racism in 2009.

This conference is billed as a review of the implementation of the 2001 UN conference against racism which was held in Durban, South Africa, which was denounced by Israel, the United States and Jewish groups as a platform for anti-Semitic attacks against Israel including the vote of a statement equating Zionism with racism. Israel and the US walked out of the Durban meeting.

Iran was chosen by the Asian group to be on the UN committee 20-member governing bureau which will be headed by Libya.

"How can the international community choose the most hateful government in the world to sit on an anti-racism committee?" asked Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights monitoring organization.

"Choosing Libya and Iran to fight racism is like choosing Jack the Ripper to fight sexual harassment," he added.