The United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which is a subsidiary body of the Commission on Human Rights, has adopted a resolution urging the convocation of an international conference in 1958 to coordinate measures for the eradication of prejudice and discrimination.
The gathering would consist of representatives of international non-governmental organizations with consultative status at the United Nations and would implement proposals made at a similar conference held in Geneva in 1955.
The 1955 sessions, held under the presidency of M. Vincent Auriol, former President of France, were attended by delegations from important international bodies in all parts of the world. Dr. Nahum Goldmann, who headed the World Jewish Congress delegation, was elected one of the conference vice-presidents. After formulating a program of principles and methods to combat discrimination, the 1955 gathering expressed the hope that another conference would be called to implement the proposals.
The convening of this second conference came under discussion at the sessions of the Subcommission which concluded this week-end. In the face of a proposal that, for technical reasons, no such conference be held until 1959, Dr. Maurice L Perlzweig, WJC representative, urged a date not later than the summer of 1958. He pointed out that the WJC had originally proposed a 1957 meting, and declared that “measures to combat discrimination and persecution are a matter of life and death urgency to multitudes people throughout the world.
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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.