NGOs Urge UN to Condemn Iran’s Holocaust Denials

NGOs Urge UN to Condemn Iran’s Holocaust Denials

Geneva, January 26, 2007 — A group of human rights organizations today called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other UN officials to confront Iran's campaign of Holocaust denial when the UN marks the genocide of Europe's Jews this coming Monday with ceremonies in New York and Geneva. The letter urged the officials to strongly condemn Tehran's fundamentalist regime every time it dismisses the Holocaust as "a myth."

According to Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, Iran's latest questioning of the Holocaust—in a January 8th letter to the Human Rights Council—requires a response from the UN, and Monday is a particularly appropriate day to do so. "If not on the UN's day of Holocaust commemoration, then when?" asked Neuer.

The non-governmental organizations signing the letter include Freedom House, the Democracy Coalition Project and the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre.

The text of the letter follows below.

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This letter was sent to UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, UN Special Rapporteur on Racism Doudou Diène, and UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Juan Méndez

January 26, 2007

We, the undersigned non-governmental organizations, urge you to use the occasion of the United Nations' second annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust to condemn, strongly and specifically, the repeated and ongoing denials of the Holocaust by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. By combating the denial of genocide the UN will on this day reassert its commitment to human rights.

These denials have come most recently in a January 8 letter from the Iranian ambassador in Geneva to the UN Human Rights Council. In that letter, the ambassador defended his government's December conference questioning the Holocaust as "legitimate" and asserted that there are "serious opposing ideas over the issue." It is unconscionable for Iran to exploit the UN's foremost human rights forum to perpetrate, as President Jacques Chirac described it last week, "a crime against the truth, the absolute perversion of the soul and spirit."

In its historic Resolution 60/7 establishing the Day of Commemoration, the General Assembly "reject[ed] any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event, either in full or part." We commend the UN for reiterating this principle on several occasions. In his message for this year's commemoration, Secretary-General Ban called those who claim that the Holocaust never happened or has been exaggerated "misguided." Former Secretary-General Annan also deplored the December Holocaust denial conference, and he expressed his shock in September 2005 when the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first publicly denied the Holocaust and called for the destruction of Israel. The Security Council also condemned these remarks.

Nevertheless, the government of Iran continues to deny the Holocaust, as its recent letter to the Human Rights Council attests. Each incident of denial is a further incitement to hatred and anti-Semitism that requires condemnation by the UN.

The UN was founded on the ashes of the Holocaust, and was created to prevent such horrors from ever happening again. In the words of former Secretary-General Annan:

The Holocaust occupies a unique place in the history of the United Nations…Our global mission of peace, freedom and human dignity was literally forged in fire — in fact the most awful fires mankind has ever seen…The United Nations has a sacred responsibility to combat hatred and intolerance. A United Nations that fails to be at the forefront of the fight against anti-Semitism and other forms of racism denies its history and undermines its future…The United Nations must remain eternally vigilant.
You have the moral authority to ensure that this sacred responsibility is met. The ongoing racist campaign by Iran must be combated and publicly repudiated at each and every incident. Regrettably, diplomatically worded statements that do not specifically name Iran have failed to have the desired effect.

We appeal to you this year to honour the UN commitment to Holocaust Commemoration by strongly rebuking Iran's campaign of Holocaust denial. Its threats cannot be ignored. Otherwise, the promise of "Never again" may ring hollow, yet again.

Sincerely yours,

UN Watch
Hillel C. Neuer, Executive Director

Freedom House
Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director

The Democracy Coalition Project
Theodore Piccone, Executive Director

Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre (DRDC)
Abdelbagi Jibril, Executive Director

International Federation of Housing and Planning
Paul Rijnaarts, Secretary General

www.unwatch.org

UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).

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