From The National Post
Fight against anti-Semitism renewed with ‘Ottawa Protocol’
OTTAWA — Stepped-up efforts within Canada and around the world are needed to combat rising anti-Semitism, says a freshly penned international declaration designed to stamp out the “most enduring of all hatreds.”
The declaration, known as the Ottawa Protocol, was released Tuesday following a two-day meeting of parliamentarians and experts from about four dozen countries in Ottawa.
“We are alarmed by the explosion of anti-Semitism and hate on the Internet, a medium crucial for the promotion and protection of freedom of expression, freedom of information, and the participation of a civil society,” the declaration said.
A major concern, it says, is the failure of many countries to live up to commitments to maintain reliable statistics about anti-Semitic and other hate crimes.
The Ottawa Protocol builds on one crafted in London in February 2009 at the founding conference of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who attended the London Conference, said the Ottawa meeting, which attracted more countries and more participants, proves the 2009 gathering was not a one-off.
“We determined (in London) this had to be an ongoing enterprise, that we could not simply meet, have a conference, disperse and go back to business as usual,” Mr. Kenney told the conference.
He said the Conservative government is committed to leading the fight through education programs and enhanced record keeping.
Among other things, he said, the government is collecting data from police forces to develop a better picture of hate crimes in Canada, and who they are aimed at.
Reports of anti-Semitic incidents have been increasing worldwide and within Canada, where B’nai Brith reported a total of 1,264 incidents in 2009, the highest number since the group began its annual audit 28 years ago.
As proof of its commitment to zero tolerance for anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic actions and sentiments, the Conservative government often points to its decision last year to boycott the UN-sponsored Durban II conference against racism.
Canada was among a handful of countries that refused to send representatives on grounds the conference would become a forum for criticizing Israel and promoting anti-Semitism.
The government has not yet decided whether to attend Durban III, which is being held in New York next September, officials say.
In his address to the conference Monday, however, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the fight against anti-Semitism must be relentless and that he is prepared to do whatever is needed to stand up for Israel.
“As long as I am prime minister, whether it is at the UN or the Francophone or anywhere else, Canada will take that stand,” he said in a speech that opened the conference.
Among the commitments of the Ottawa Protocol:
• Working with universities to encourage them to fight anti-Semitism with the same seriousness with which they confront other forms of crimes.
• Establishing an international task force of Internet specialists comprising parliamentarians and experts to create ways to identify and monitor anti-Semitism and other hate crimes online and to develop policy recommendations on how governments can address the problems.
• Working to ensure police have one universal and comprehensive recording facility for hate crimes in general, which also breaks out anti-Semitic attacks.
This is not a good move… I don’t like anything this is “progressing” towards..
I don’t know how many other people have notice this, but before all major wars there is a rise in anti-Semitism, the only thing that is different this time is that the Jews now have their own nation and military to protect them.
Harper and his government are heros in this regard..