On November 11, 2008 NGO Monitor learned that the Swiss Mission in Geneva invited NordSud XXI — a virulent NGO associated with Libya that has issued statements accusing Israel of "genocide," "apartheid," and "atrocities" — to join a NGO discussion about the Durban Review Conference to be held on  November 18, 2008. Nord-Sud XXI is a leader in the campaign calling for an NGO Forum at the Durban Review Conference in Geneva in April 2008, in order to replicate the infamous Forum in Durban in 2001.

In response to inquiries by NGO Monitor, the Swiss government dismissed these concerns, claiming that "[t]hese meetings are open to all NGO’s having the ECOSOC status …independent of their respective positions" and that there is no difference between Nord-Sud XXI and the other 3186 ECOSOC accredited NGOs.  However, as noted in NGO Monitor’s letter to the Swiss Ambassador to Israel protesting the invitation, Nord-Sud XXI was among a group of 25 NGOs to receive an invitation to this meeting, providing it with greatly enhanced status and influence. According to the information that NGO Monitor received, no Jewish NGOs were invited to participate in this meeting.

  1. NGO Monitor letter to Swiss Ambassador to Israel (including NGO Monitor’s report)
  2. Response of Embassy of Switzerland
  3. Reply of NGO Monitor, asking for further clarification
  4. NGO Monitor letter to Swiss government, protesting the invitation of Nord-Sud XXI

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NGO Monitor letter to Swiss Ambassador to Israel

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, which NGO Monitor will be publishing on Monday, November 17, 2008, along with a press release about this invitation. 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

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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 hate-filled as the 2001 session, or worse?
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Response of Embassy of Switzerland

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">monika.schmutzkirgoez@eda.admin.ch
tel.vertretung@eda.admin.ch">tel.vertretung@eda.admin.ch
www.swissembassy.co.il

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Reply of NGO Monitor, asking for further clarification

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

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NGO Monitor letter to Swiss government, protesting the invitation of Nord-Sud XXI

16 November 2008

H.E. Walter Haffner
Ambassador
Embassy of Switzerland
P.O. Box 6068
61060 Tel Aviv, Israel

Dear H.E. Mr. Haffner,

As the Executive Director of NGO Monitor, I am asking you to convey our call to the Swiss Mission in Geneva to end the privileged status given to Nord-Sud XXI, a virulent antisemitic NGO associated with Libya, which has issued statements accusing Israel of " genocide," " apartheid" and " atrocities," and which is linked to the AlGhaddafi Human Rights prize, which has been awarded to convicted French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy. In particular, the Swiss mission should rescind the invitation to Nord-Sud XXI to participate in a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 18 to plan for the April conference.

In issuing this call, we note that Nord Sud XXI is a leader of the campaign calling on the UN to hold an "NGO Forum" in Geneva, in conjunction with the 2009 "Durban Review Conference," in order to replicate the infamous 2001 Forum held at Durban. We cannot accept the claim made by Ms. Monika Schmutz-Kirgoezin in response to our inquiry, in which she wrote that these preparatory meetings "are open to all NGO’s having the ECOSOC status …independent of their respective positions" and that there is no difference between Nord-Sud XXI and the other 3186 ECOSOC accredited NGOs.  Nord-Sud XXI was among a group of 25 NGOs to receive an invitation to this meeting, providing it with greatly enhanced status and influence. According to the information that we have received, no Jewish NGOs were invited to participate in this meeting.

Furthermore, the invitation issued to this NGO calls into question the Swiss government’s commitment to opposing the abuses of extremist NGOs, particularly those that lead the antisemitism associated with the Durban process. With so many NGOs with ECOSOC accreditation, and we cannot understand why an organization closely associated with Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi has special access under the façade of ‘civil society.’  Nord-Sud XXI’s ECOSOC status is used to promote hatred, and should be denounced, and not welcomed.

We therefore strongly urge the Swiss government to reconsider this invitation. Otherwise, we fear that Geneva version of Durban will be as hate-filled as the 2001 session, and the Swiss government will share responsibility.

I look forward to your response, and to cooperation on these important issues.

Sincerely,

Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg

Executive Director, NGO Monitor