UN Human Rights Subcommission Adopts Resolution to Combat Revival of Nazism

The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities adopted unanimously today a resolution that would, in part, call on member nations to suppress any revival of Nazism and racial intolerance. The subcommission of the UN Commission on Human Rights recommended that the General Assembly call on all eligible states to ratify the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity; to urge those states to bar and prosecute Nazi and racist organizations; to advise the states to “take legislative and administrative measures to prohibit propaganda of any kind in favor of Nazism, the concept of racial superiority, chauvinism, hatred of other peoples, militarism and revanchism,” and to call on the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), among others, to act on the provisions of the resolution. Before the vote, the chair rested on procedure and closed debate without granting a request to speak submitted by Dr. Isaac Lewin, the UN representative of the Agudath Israel World Organization. The sub-commission acted today four months before the start of the International Year to Combat Racism. The other three sections of the resolution deal with the general question of racial discrimination, discrimination against “indigenous populations.” and apartheid.