Why were they there in the first place?

The UN conference on anti-racism started in Geneva today. There has been a lot of talk about this conference prior to its start, as a long list of countries, including the US, decided to boycot the conference due to the fact that it had been hijacked by a number of more or less dictatorial regimes who use it as rambling against Israel, most notably Iran, whose president Ahmadinejad was the only world leader present at the conference. In his opening speech at the conference, he opened with what anyone should have expected to be a rambling about Israel's racism against Palestineans. Protesting against this, a number of diplomats from countries that decided to participate, walked out. This included France, Canada, Finland, Denmark...
But why were they even there in the first place!? They must surely have heard Mr. Ahmadinejad speak before?!? What were they expecting?!?
The true protestors are the countries that decided to stay away in the first place

Notwithstanding that it is completely out of place to make Mr. Ahmadinejad keynote speaker at a conference against racism, the whole idea of an anti-racism conference is ridiculous, and the way the world is becoming evermore divided, it is regrettable that the world community apparently lets such an important issue be hijacked by a UN Conference that, like all UN conference, would otherwise be nothing but a cocktail party for diplomats and experts that ends with a report nobody will ever read.

People are inherently good; racist people don't exist; they have never existed - only the evil leaders who appeal to people's most primitive tribal instinct to incite hatred throughout history. Thus, the fight against racism is way too important to be left to politicians, most notably the UN.