The U.N. Human Rights Commission, on a motion by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, this week-end voted by seven to four, with three abstentions, to drop Soviet and French proposals for banning racial propaganda from the projected Covenant on Human Rights.
The Soviet proposal would have prohibited propaganda for “Fascist-Nazi views and racial superiority.” The French had sought a ban on any advocates of a national, racial or religious hostility which incited to violence or hatred. Mrs. Roosevelt warned that such clauses were vague and might become loopholes for repression. She declared that “advocacy, however reprehensible morally,” is not a justification for denying free speech.
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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.