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.