There’s a peace conference taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa this week with a notable no-show — the Dalai Lama. CNN.com reports that South Africa has denied a visa for the Dalai to pay a visit to the country. The conference is supposed to showcase South Africa’s place in the world as a champion of human rights as they prepare to host the 2011 World Cup, but this move probably won’t reinforce that notion.

The South African government claims that the Dalai’s presence will put the focus of the conference squarely on China and the human rights violations taking place in Tibet. It should be mentioned that South Africa does a fair amount of trading with China, so you can draw your own conclusions there. All of the invited Nobel Peace Prize laureates have now dropped out of the conference in protest, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Dalai took it in stride, his people saying that he “isn’t surprised.” I suppose he’s used to this kind of thing by now.

It seems like a peace conference to showcase how far South Africa has come in the realm of human rights would be an excellent chance to host whoever has something to say about the topic. Get the Dalai, Tutu and Bono in a room and let them go at it. Unfortunately that’s not the case and the entire conference now hangs in the balance.

Apparently actors Charlize Theron and Morgan Freeman are both still on the bill though, so they have that going for them!

For your reading pleasure:
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How the Dalai Lama Works