Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling
contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
A/RES/70/139
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of a database on practical means to combat
racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;
4.
Expresses deep concern about the glorification, in any form, of the Nazi
movement, neo-Nazism and former members of the Waffen SS organization, including by
erecting monuments and memorials and holding public demonstrations in the name of the
glorification of the Nazi past, the Nazi movement and neo-Nazism, as well as by declaring
or attempting to declare such members and those who fought against the anti-Hitler
coalition and collaborated with the Nazi movement participants in national liberation
movements;
5.
Calls for the universal ratification and effective implementation of the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 3 and
encourages those States parties that have not yet done so to consider making the
declaration under its article 14, thus providing the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination with the competence to receive and consider communications from
individuals or groups of individuals within their jurisdiction claiming to be victims of a
violation by a State party of any of the rights set forth in the Convention;
6.
Emphasizes the recommendation of the Special Rapporteur that “any
commemorative celebration of the Nazi regime, its allies and related organizations,
whether official or unofficial, should be prohibited by States”, 12 also emphasizes that such
manifestations do injustice to the memory of the countless victims of the Second World
War and negatively influence children and young people, and stresses in this regard that it
is important that States take measures, in accordance with international human rights law,
to counteract any celebration of the Nazi SS organization and all its integral parts,
including the Waffen SS;
7.
Expresses concern about recurring attempts to desecrate or demolish
monuments erected in remembrance of those who fought against Nazism during the
Second World War, as well as to unlawfully exhume or remove the remains of such
persons, and in this regard urges States to fully comply with their relevant obligations,
inter alia, under article 34 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949;13
8.
Notes with concern the increase in the number of racist incidents worldwide,
including the rise of skinhead groups, which have been responsible for many of these
incidents, as well as the resurgence of racist and xenophobic violence targeting, inter alia,
persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, including arson
attacks on houses and vandalization of schools and places of worship;
9.
Reaffirms that such acts may be qualified as falling within the scope of the
Convention, that they may not be justified when they fall outside the scope of the rights to
freedom of peaceful assembly and of association as well as the rights to freedom of
expression and that they may fall within the scope of article 20 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights2 and may be subject to certain restrictions, as set
out in articles 19, 21 and 22 of the Covenant;
10.
Condemns without reservation any denial of or attempt to deny the Holocaust;
11. Welcomes the call of the Special Rapporteur for the active preservation of
those Holocaust sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration and forced labour
camps and prisons, as well as his encouragement to States to take measures, including
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12
13
Ibid., para. 73.
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1125, No. 17512.
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