French President Emmanuel Macron will stay away from a United Nations conference on racism next month because of concerns about anti-Semitism, his office said on Friday.

"Concerned by a history of anti-Semitic remarks made at the U.N. conference on racism, known as the Durban conference, the President of the Republic has decided that France will not participate in the follow-up conference to be held this year," it said.

The meeting in New York is being held to mark the 20th anniversary of the 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa, which resulted in the "Durban Declaration and Programme of Action" against racism.