The World Jewish Congress today submitted a memorandum to the United Nations charging a number of U.N. member states particularly in the Western Hemisphere with discrimination against applicants for visitors visas or transit visas “solely on the grounds of their place of birth.”
The memorandum, which was submitted to the U.N. Subcommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, pointed out that this practice has inflicted “serious hardships” on many people accused of no crimes. It emphasized that discrimination is being practiced even with regard to applicants who “left the countries of their birth in infancy and have faithfully discharged the obligations of citizenship in other countries over long periods.”
The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities this weekend expressed its “satisfaction” with the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the field of preventing discrimination and protecting minorities.
Samuel Spanien, French member of the Subcommission, criticized the member states of the United Nations for the fact that three years after the General Assembly, without a dissenting vote, had adopted the convention against genocide only 31 nations had ratified it. He also deplored the fact that the crime of genocide had not yet come under international jurisdiction.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
