#3 15 November 2008
Dear Ms. Schmutz-Kirgoez,
Thank you for the response to our inquiry (copied below) regarding the
invitation from the Swiss Mission in Geneva to Nord Sud XXI (a notorious
Libyan linked NGO that, as documented in detail, engages in frequent
antisemitic attacks) for a discussion regarding the Durban Review
Conference to be held on November 18. In your response, you noted that
Nord Sud XXI is one of 3187 NGOs with ECOSOC status -- a fact with which we
have no quarrel.
However, your response failed to note that the Swiss Mission has only
invited some 25 of these NGOs for this discussion, meaning that Nord Sud
XXI is a highly privileged group with special influence in Switzerland, in
contrast to the over 3160 NGOs with ECOSOC status that have not been
invited to this meeting, and will not have the opportunity to present their
views of the upcoming Durban Review Conference.
Therefore, we are again asking you, as the representative of the Swiss
government, to explain the relationship with Nord Sud XXI, particularly in
the light of the effort to prevent a repetition in Geneva of the hatred
and antisemitism displayed by groups such as this in the 2001 NGO Forum of
the Durban Conference.
We look forward to your response,
Sincerely,
Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
Executive Director, NGO Monitor
=====
#1 NGO Monitor report: Swiss invitation to Nord-Sud XXI
November 12, 2008
H.E. Walter Haffner
Ambassador
Embassy of Switzerland
P.O. Box 6068
61060 Tel Aviv, Israel
Dear H.E. Mr. Haffner,
NGO Monitor understands that the Swiss Mission in Geneva has invited Nord
Sud XXI to join a NGO discussion to be held on Tuesday, November 18, about
the Durban Review Conference.
I am attaching a copy of our report about this invitation, which NGO Monitor
will be publishing on Monday, November 17, 2008, along with a press release.
To avoid errors or misunderstandings, we would appreciate receiving your
comments, corrections, or comments on this issue in the next few days.
NGO Monitor (www.ngo-monitor.org) was founded to provide critical debate and
accountability regarding the political activities of non-governmental
organizations. We have over 11,000 subscribers, and are frequently quoted in
the press, academic publications, by NGO officials and donors, and in
governmental and parliamentary discussions.
We look forward to further communication and cooperation on these important
issues.
Sincerely,
Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
Executive Director, NGO Monitor
_________________________________
November 11, 2008
NGO Monitor understands that the Swiss Mission in Geneva has invited Nord
Sud XXI to join a NGO discussion about Durban to be held on Tuesday,
November 18. Not only is Nord Sud XXI a group that has given an award to a
convicted French Holocaust denier (Roger Garaudy, in 2002) and other
anti-Semites, but it is a leader of the global campaign for a "NGO Forum" at
the 2009 Durban II conference, by which it seeks to replicate the 2001
hatefest.
A number of leading Swiss newspapers have documented how Nord Sud XXI is a
front organization for the anti-Semitic Moammar Kadhafi Human Rights Prize.
According to Le Temps, "The Kadhafi Prize [for Human Rights] is managed in
Geneva by North-South 21, which claims to be an organization for the defense
of human rights. . . . It is worth noting that North-South 21 does not want
to mention the financial investment of Tripoli in the Geneva center. The
organization issues many periodicals and other publications but none
mentions the name of the provider of funds..." See "Un deuxième spectacle
autour du Prix Kadhafi," Le Temps, 30 août 2000. See also "Les Noirs
demandent réparation pour l'esclavage," Le Temps, 7 août 2001 (describing
North-South XXI as "an NGO installed in Geneva and tied to Libya" and
discussing a symposium "ordered and financed by Libya through North-South
XXI.")
Nord Sud XXI often seeks to disguise and hide its Libyan connections as in
a recent letter to the UN here but in other places they admit it. For
example: "Nord-Sud XXI had been mandated to manage the Khaddafi Prize for
years, as confirmed by Ahmad Soueissi, Nord-Sud's managing director." Neue
Zürcher Zeitung, June 25, 2006. Indeed, the prize's own website admits the
connection: "The [Kadhafi] Prize has other organizations such as the
Geneva-based Society of North-South -21 for cultural dialogue..." Qaddafi
was never known for his consistency.
In other words, there is no doubt that Nord Sud XXI is part of (or identical
to) the Kadhadi Prize organization, (to follow the details, it is often
necessary to look for multiple spellings of the Libyan dictator's name.) And
there is also no doubt of the group's hateful actions, which were documented
exhaustively in this report by UN Watch, and in a recent Azure essay.
Operating under the name of "Nord Sud XXI," it has been leading the global
lobbying campaign for a "NGO Forum" hatefest at Durban II see timeline
here.
All of which leads to serious questions concerning the role of the Swiss
government in courting this notorious GNGO (governmental NGO)?
After Qaddafi's son Hannibal was arrested in Geneva this summer for
violently abusing his servants and then received the full backing of
Libya why is the Swiss government now granting legitimacy to one of this
regime's most notorious propaganda organizations? More to the point, why are
the Swiss inviting a group that celebrates convicted Holocaust deniers to a
planning meeting for the "World Conference Against Racism"? Perhaps the
Geneva version of Durban, with Swiss government involvement, will be as
hatefilled as the 2001 session, or worse?
#2 Embassy of Switzerland reply
Dear Prof. Steinberg, Dear Dr. Lerner
Thank you for your e-mails which I would like to answer as follows: The
Swiss Mission to the UN in Geneva is organizing on a regular base meetings
with the various actors of the civil society present in Geneva, among those
also a variety of NGO's representing the Jewish community.
One of the next meetings will be dedicated to the process leading to the
Durban Review Conference taking place in Geneva in April 2009. Those
meetings are open to all NGO's having the ECOSOC status and following the
issue, independent of their respective positions. Nord-Sud XXI obtained the
ECOSOC status just like 3187 other NGO's and can therefore participate in
all multilateral meetings to which this status gives access.
Switzerland considers the civil society an important actor in the field of
promotion and protection of human rights. Switzerland is therefore engaged
in a critical dialogue with many NGO's. An invitation sent to a NGO to
participate in a meeting can under no circumstances be interpreted as a
support of the position of the respective NGO.
Kind regards,
Monika Schmutz Kirgöz
Deputy Head of Mission
Embassy of Switzerland
228 Hayarkon Str.
P.O. Box 6068, 61060 Tel Aviv
Israel
Tel: +972 3 546 44 55 ext. 212/231
Fax: +972 3 546 44 08
monika.schmutzkirgoez@eda.admin.ch
tel.vertretung@eda.admin.ch
www.swissembassy.co.il
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