Statement by the Representative of the Russian Federation Mr. G.Lukiantsev, to introduce a draft resolution to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly on “Combating Glorification of Nazis, neo-Nazism and Other Practices That Contribute to Fuelling Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance” (A/C.3/72/L.56)
Mr. Chairman,
The delegation of the Russian Federation has the honor to introduce on its own behalf and also on behalf of the group of co-sponsors from all regions of the world a draft resolution contained in document L.56. We should like also to express our gratitude to the states that made constructive proposals during the consultations on the current draft resolution.
Mr. Chairman,
This is a traditional initiative for the UN General Assembly. Unfortunately from the time of adoption of a similar document during the 71st Session of the General Assembly the known problems not only disappeared but became significantly more acute. For more than 70 years since the Great Victory of the United Nations over Nazism and Fascism when the countries were able to overcome their political and ideological differences for the common goal, the mankind has never been able to eradicate the legacy of the Nazi ideology.
The draft resolution presented for the attention of the Third Committee does not touch upon the echoes of the past but deals with contemporary and extremely dangerous manifestations of racism that we must fight at the national and international levels. It is a problem of alarming arisal of various types of extremist groups that recur to the acts of violence against people of different color and different beliefs, immigrants and national minorities. In doing so they more often justify the dissemination of racist and extremist ideology by reference to the freedom of expression, which contradicts all obligations of states under the basic international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
Quite often the extremist groups draw their inspiration from the ideology and practice that the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition fought against during the World War II. We strongly believe that we should not tolerate the situations when those who had been the associates to the crimes of Nazism are being made heroes, including the white washing of the former SS and Waffen-SS members who exterminated civilian population without mercy to the infants and the elderly – the crime recognized by the Nuremberg Tribunal. At the same time in the very center of Europe, which knew all the horrors of practical implementation of Nazi-socialist ideology, including the theory of racial supremacy, an actual war has been unleashed against the monuments to the fighters against the Nazism and Fascism with simultaneous inauguration of memorial sites to glorify the Nazis. Moreover quite recently it has been difficult to imagine that those who fought on the side of the Nazis against the countries of anti-Hitler coalition would be declared heroes and made equal to the fighters of national liberation movements.
It stands to reason that such acts are not only an outrage to the veterans of the anti-Fascist movement but play into the hands of those who call for the racial purity and discrimination on racial and ethnic grounds, let alone the example they serve for the young generation.
Mr. Chairman,
The Nuremberg Tribunal clearly and unequivocally condemned the crimes of those who by their acts infringed upon the rights and dignity of individuals, denied the principle of equality of people irrespective of their race, ethnicity, religion or language. The attempts the revisit the decisions of the Tribunal and falsify the history to suit one’s own political expediency interests are inadmissible and simply outrageous.
