Post Date: Post Date – 11:59 PM, Sat – Nov 5th
New York: India voted in favour of Russia’s draft resolution “against the glorification of Nazism” at the UN. In a heated debate, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution on combating the glorification of Nazism by a recorded vote of 105 in favour, 52 against, and 15 abstentions.
The representative of India stated that the concept of indigenous peoples did not apply to India’s national conditions, adding that India joined the consensus on the resolution based on this understanding.
The committee approved eight draft resolutions, including texts on the rights of indigenous peoples, privacy in the digital age, and condemnation of the glorification of Nazism.
The draft resolution covers a range of human rights issues, from literacy rights and the protection of children from sexual exploitation, to crime prevention and criminal justice issues, and efforts to combat the glorification of Nazism.
The draft resolution draws the General Assembly’s deep concern over the glorification of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism and former members of the Waffen SS, including by erecting monuments and holding public demonstrations to glorify the Nazi past.
In a press release, the United Nations said the Russian Federation representative expressed concern about racist and xenophobic rhetoric, calls to deport migrants and refugees, Islamophobia, Afrophobia and an increase in anti-Semitism.
Several delegates came to the stage to express concern that Moscow was trying to use the pretext of fighting neo-Nazism to justify its brutal war against Ukraine, which Ukrainian delegates claimed had nothing in common with the real fight against Nazism and neo-Nazism.
Responding to his concerns, the British representative stressed that the resolution was part of Moscow’s attempt to justify its aggression against Ukraine by further lying and distorting history.
The U.S. representative called the resolution a “cynic attempt” by Moscow to advance its geopolitical goals by invoking the Holocaust and World War II. Likewise, the Australian representative called Moscow’s weaponization of the Holocaust and Nazism unacceptable.
At the same time, several delegates disagreed with the amendment, which noted in horror that the Russian Federation was trying to justify its territorial aggression against Ukraine on the basis of allegedly eliminating neo-Nazism. The representative of the Russian Federation rejected the amendment as it would politicize the issue of racism while introducing a narrow, country-specific approach, saying that “this is a thematic resolution, not a national resolution”.