A resolution calling upon all governments to outlaw racial prejudice and national and religious intolerance, pending here in one form or another for nearly three years, finally won full approval of the entire General Assembly here today.
The resolution, while it does not mention the term “anti-Semitism,” stems from steps designed to outlaw anti-Semitism initiated here in January 1960 by the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. At that time, the subcommission was exercised by the world wide spate of swastika-smearings and anti-Semitic sloganeering following the desecration of the synagogue at Cologne, Germany, on Christmas Eve of 1959.
The resolution asks all governments to take all “necessary steps to rescind discriminatory laws” which have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial prejudice and national and religious intolerance “wherever they still exist”; recommends educational campaigns in all countries to discourage such bias; “invites” all of the UN’s own Specialized Agencies to do likewise; and calls upon governments as well as UN agencies to report on these efforts by next year. The measure requests the Secretary-General to report back to the Assembly on this topic at the Assembly’s next session, beginning in Sept. 1963.
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