Geneva  - Participating in the opening of the tenth session of the Human Rights Council on Monday, the United Nation's top rights expert said she supported an upcoming anti-racism conference, despite anti-Semitic elements that plagued the previous one.

Navanethem Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged "governments and all other stakeholders to actively participate in this review process" and that attacks against it were "unwarranted."

The United States, which reversed a decision by the previous administration and agreed to participate as an observer in the council, said however that it was pulling out of the anti-racism review.

Israel and the US left in the middle of the original conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, after the Jewish State was targeted for criticism and its founding ideology, Zionism, came under attack. The legacy of slavery was also another sensitive point which led to disputes.

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni praised the US decision to boycott the upcoming review in Geneva in April, saying the conference was anti-Semitic. Canada was also set to bow out.

Some other Western nations have expressed concerns over the singling out of Israel as well as the attempt by certain developing nations to have defamation of religion included in the review, which is seen as a curtailing of the freedom of speech.

"We need to prevent the acrimony of the past from encumbering the fight against intolerance," Pillay said in her address, adding that this was "both of urgent concern and in the best interest of everyone."

The tenth session of the Human Rights Council will focus on several key issues, including last year's food crisis (which still lingers to some degree), genocide, rights of the child, and the specific situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Gaza Strip.

Also, the council will adopt resolutions on the human rights situation in 16 countries that underwent periodic reviews late last year. Under a new system, all members of the UN will have their rights record checked every four years.

Foreign ministers and other dignitaries from various countries were participating in the so-called high level segments of the event. The session would continue until March
27. dpa