USUN - Vote on Adoption of Holocaust Denial Res.

Explanation of Vote on Adoption of the Resolution on Holocaust Denial

Ambassador Alejandro D. Wolff, Acting U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Remarks in the General Assembly
New York City
January 26, 2007

USUN PRESS RELEASE # 011 (07)

The United States strongly supports this Resolution that condemns without reservation any denial of the Holocaust. This Assembly should be proud of adopting today's Resolution by consensus. It is shameful that one country decided to reject that consensus.

Tomorrow will be the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp where over 1 million people were murdered. To this day, Auschwitz serves as a powerful symbol of what can happen when tyranny and oppression go unchecked. As we mourn those who lost their lives, we must, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted, "reassert our commitment to human rights" which was "desecrated at Auschwitz and by genocides and atrocities since."

The United States introduced and sponsored this important Resolution, not as a rhetorical exercise, but because of the implications of Holocaust denial in the world today. Some experts on the topic have noted that, "Every genocide is followed by denial." Despite the undeniable truth about the Holocaust, we are now witnessing so-called scholars, even world leaders, attempting to revise history, masking a more dangerous agenda.

This Resolution is not about countering free speech or intellectual thought; it is about avoiding future disasters. One observer put it simply and powerfully when he stated that "The black hole of forgetting is the negative force that results in future genocides."

A little over a month ago, people around the world marked International Human Rights Week and renewed the solemn pledge of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which was drafted in the wake of the atrocities of World War II.

We take note that this esteemed body adopted by consensus in 2005 a Resolution unequivocally rejecting the denial of the Holocaust as an historical event. We call upon all Member States to follow through on that and today's Resolution to include measures in their educational systems that underscore the importance of never denying the Holocaust. As Kofi Annan remarked at the end of his tenure, "some of the rhetoric used in connection with the issue implies a refusal to concede the very legitimacy of Israel's existence, let alone the validity of its security concerns....Today, Israeli's are often confronted with words and action that seem to confirm their fear that the goal of their adversaries is to extinguish their existence as a state, and as a people."

Indeed, the words and actions of some, in direct violation of the UN Charter, underscore why this Resolution is so important. Just last month, the Iranian regime sponsored a conference questioning the historical fact of the atrocities of the Holocaust. Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad has also called for the state of Israel to be "wiped off the map." That same regime is under UN Security Council sanctions right now to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, in direct violation of its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The confluence of these three forces cannot be viewed abstractly or in isolation of each other. They create a cauldron of conflict that cannot be ignored.

Some will cloak their hatred and hidden agenda by invoking the right to free speech and academic freedom. There is a categorical difference between free speech and speech which willfully and maliciously ignores recognized historical facts in order to advance an ulterior agenda. Conferences like those sponsored by Iran are designed solely to polarize and incite hatred. If successful, they can then use that hatred as a catalyst to justify genocide. It is also specious to diminish the Holocaust by making false comparisons -- as we heard earlier this morning by some delegations. As Kofi Annan powerfully noted, "What was done to Jews and others by the Nazis remains an undeniable tragedy, unique in human history."

The United States stands firmly opposed to any attempts to deny the Holocaust. This Resolution reinforces that message and we encourage all Member States to take concrete steps to make that message heard. To deny the events of the Holocaust is tantamount to the approval of genocide in all its forms. Today we stand together saying to the world that we will not allow that to happen.

Released on January 26, 2007

ENDS

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