Recently a vote on the fight against the glorification of Nazism took place during a meeting by the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly. That event has become a milestone from the standpoint of Western nations that have been making attempts to question the results of World War II unleashed by Germany and its allies, in particular Italy.
Germany and Italy voted against, thus showing lack of respect to WWII victims, and they also demonstrated that they started to justify the aggression.
The vote questions the sincerity of Germany’s and Italy’s declarations on the recognition of their guilt for starting WWII that claimed dozens of millions of lives, including 27 million in the USSR, 6 million in Poland, 1,8 million in Yugoslavia, more than half a million in France.
Nowadays the UN conducts discussions on the reasons for keeping the wording «Enemy States» in the UN Charter. The position of Germany and Italy shows that it would be premature to exclude that wording. We must never forget about the WWII war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Apart from the WWII crimes, Germany and Italy bear responsibility for the lives of Afghans who died at the hands of these countries’ militaries during 20-year military presence of NATO in Afghanistan. In this regard a question arises – to what extent do these countries’ actions correlate with the assumed obligation to abide by the UN goals and principles?
Range of human rights issues
Had earlier the United Nations in a half day of intense action, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) approved eight draft resolutions covering a range of human rights issues, from the right to literacy and protection of children from sexual exploitation to matters of crime prevention and criminal justice as well as efforts to combat the glorification of Nazism.
Amid spirited debate, the Committee approved a draft resolution on combating the glorification of Nazism by a recorded vote of 105 in favor to 52 against, with 15 abstentions, following the approval of an amendment to the draft – proposed by Australia, Japan, Liberia and North Macedonia – by a recorded vote of 63 in favor to 23 against, with 65 abstentions.
The draft resolution would have the Assembly express deep concern about the glorification of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism and former members of the Waffen SS organization, including by erecting monuments and holding public demonstrations in glorification of the Nazi past.
Rejecting the amendment, the delegate of the Russian Federation said that “this is a thematic resolution, not a country-resolution”. In a similar vein, Malaysia’s delegate cautioned that the amendment has shifted the focus of the text away from a thematic resolution to attack specific countries.
While recalling that more than 60 million citizens of the anti-Hitler coalition gave their lives to defeat fascism, the delegate of Belarus criticized the amendment as an attempt to erode memory of the victory over fascism.
