The first Regional Preparatory Meetings for Durban 2009 were held in Brasilia, Brazil, June 17-19, 2008. During these meetings, an

"open letter" to the "people, governments, movements, and organizations" of Latin American

was sent by a coalition of NGOs active in the

Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment

campaign, including

BADIL

. The letter refers to "The Palestinian people [as the] victims of the world’s last state-sponsored colonial apartheid regime," while Latin American human rights issues – such as human trafficking in Cuba, the abuse of children by peacekeepers in Venezuela and others – remain unmentioned. The NGO also spuriously accuse the governments that have declared that they will not participate in an antisemitic event as expected in the Durban Review Conference as trying to "silence the principled voices of the victims of racism that shaped the agenda of the civil society conference at Durban in 2001."  For more on 2009 Durban Review Conference,

click here

.