Release date: August 12, 2009
Media Contact: Denise Perron 603.226.3636

Wife of the Late Congressman Tom Lantos and Chair of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice Makes a Statement on the Awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson

Paper by Congressman Tom Lantos regarding Durban - 2002.

In 2001, my late husband Congressman Tom Lantos led, at the urging of Secretary of State Colin Powell,
the U.S. delegation’s walk out from the United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban,
South Africa. In a piece he later published about his experiences at Durban, Tom wrote, “To many of us
present…it is clear that much of the responsibility for the debacle rests on the shoulders of U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who, in her role as secretary-general of the conference,
failed to provide the leadership needed to keep the conference on track.”

Even before the conference, Iran, Iraq, and other rejectionist Middle Eastern governments had made clear
their intent to commandeer the conference to denounce the policies and legitimacy of the state of Israel,
while ignoring ongoing terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens and refusing to criticize human rights abuses in
any other specific country in the world. The United States and several European and moderate Arab
delegations made a concerted effort to eliminate this vitriolic language, but those diplomatic initiatives
collapsed when Commissioner Robinson spoke in favor of a one-sided approach. Although
Commissioner Robinson did much to nurture the global dialogue on racism leading up to the 2001
conference, her actions at Durban were troubling, to say the least.

Today Mary Robinson is being honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an award that my own
husband received posthumously in 2008. While I am deeply disappointed by the decision to honor former
Commissioner Robinson in this manner, I also feel that this provides a good opportunity to reflect on the
failures of Durban. As Tom wrote, “One lesson of Durban is clear – strong, principled leadership from the
United States and the United Nations is critical in order to prevent hostile forces within the international
community from hijacking vital multilateral institutions.”

Earlier this year President Obama rightly decided that the United States would not send a delegation to
the Durban Review Conference in Geneva, noting that conference organizers were determined to
expressly endorse the unacceptable resolutions of the 2001 Durban Conference. That may not have been
an easy decision for an administration committed to increased engagement, but it was an essential step. It
is my hope that this decision and others like it will help to eventually restore the U.N. Human Rights
Council as a force for promoting tolerance and human dignity.

About the Lantos Foundation

The mission of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice is to advance the cause of human
rights in American foreign policy and to be a vital voice standing up for the nation’s most important
values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice in every corner of the world. In so doing, it hopes to carry
on Congressman Lantos’ remarkable legacy of service to humanity.
For more information visit www.lantosfoundation.org.

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