Amnesty warning on racism conference

The human rights group, Amnesty International, has warned that political disputes risk undermining the United Nations World Conference against Racism, which starts in South Africa next month.

An Amnesty International spokesman Claudio Cordone told the BBC that, with preparatory meetings becoming bogged down by disagreements over contentious issues such as reparations for slavery and colonialism, there was a prospect some countries might not attend the conference.

The warning came as Amnesty issued a report for the conference denouncing racism in the administration of justice around the world as an attack on the very notion of basic human rights.

It called on governments to ensure their judicial systems combatted racism, rather than perpetuating it. The report noted that in the United States, the majority of those executed had been convicted for murdering a white person, although whites and blacks were the victims of murder in almost equal numbers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service