UN General Assembly Votes On Holocaust Denial
A historic vote in the United Nations General Assembly urges the 193 member states “to reject without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, in either full or in part, or any activities to this end.”
The General Assembly adopted the
resolution overnight by consensus — meaning it was
approved without a country-by-country vote. Only Iran
objected.
“We welcome this support for the fight
against those who want to falsify history by saying that the
Nazi German Holocaust against Jews and other groups didn’t
happen,” said chairperson of the Holocaust Centre of New
Zealand, Deborah Hart.
“It comes on a significant day: the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference on 20 January 1942 when Nazi leaders approved the ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Question’ – the extermination of 11 million Jews,” she said.
“Antisemitism,
including Holocaust denial and distortion, has been
increasing around the world, including in this country,”
Deborah Hart added.
The resolution asks member
states and, significantly, social media companies to take
active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial
through information and communication
technologies.
“This UN resolution will help the
delivery of the recommendation of the Royal Commission on
the Christchurch mosques massacre: that the government
increase efforts against racism and for greater social
cohesion,” she concluded.
The resolution urges
all U.N. members “to develop educational programs that
will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the
Holocaust in order to help to prevent future acts of
genocide” In New Zealand that education is offered through
our nation’s Holocaust centre – the Holocaust Centre of
New Zealand.
Notes:
The
resolution set out a definition of Holocaust denial that
includes attempts to distort the historical facts:
·
Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the
Holocaust or its principal elements, including collaborators
and allies of Nazi Germany.
· Gross minimization of the
number of the victims of the Holocaust in contradiction to
reliable sources.
· Attempts to blame the Jews for
causing their own genocide.
· Statements that cast the
Holocaust as a positive historical event.
· Attempts to
blur the responsibility for the establishment of
concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi
Germany by putting blame on other nations or ethnic
groups