Question from Charles on November 5th
You ask us about a vote that will take place on Friday, November 4th, within the United Nations (UN) on a draft resolution to “fight against the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to contemporary forms of racism fuel racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”.
They ask us if it is true that France, Ukraine or even the United States voted against this text, as has been claimed in particular by François Asselineau, founder of the UPR (Pro-Frexit Party). Charles Henri GalloisChairman of the Generation Freixit movement.
🚨 WHAT A SCANDAL!
▪️On the one hand, Macron and the government declare themselves appalled by the “racism” of an RN MP calling for the return of illegal immigrants
▪️On the other hand, they vote at the UN for the 1st time AGAINST THE RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE GLORIFICATION OF NAZISM in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/cLCmj83Gwu— Francois Asselineau (@UPR_Asselineau) November 5, 2022
The draft resolution numbered L.5, which was discussed during the 77th session of the Third Committee responsible for social, humanitarian and cultural questions within the United Nations General Assembly, was voted on. This resolution is initially wanted by Russia, but also supported by several of its allies such as Cuba, Pakistan and Venezuela (16 countries in total). “In accordance with this draft resolution, presented by the Russian Federation and adopted by 105 votes in favour, 52 against and 15 abstentions, the General Assembly expresses its deep concern at the glorification, in whatever form, of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism and former members of the Waffen-SS organization,” the United Nations summarized on its website.
“Height of Hypocrisy”
As a reminder: the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations are – unlike the texts adopted by the Security Council – texts whose scope of application is merely a declaration of intent without any legally binding character. Nevertheless, they retain a strong symbolic value and can serve as an argument for governments to act internationally.
Among the 52 votes against are France, the 26 other member countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and even Japan. The debates in the Third Committee were broadcast in English on United Nations web TV (state representatives’ speeches begin at 1:32:44, before the opening of voting at 1:48:52). .
By listening to diplomats, we can better understand the reasons that led some countries to vote against the Russian draft resolution. The Ukrainian delegation to the United Nations saw this as the “high point of hypocrisy” and said that “this draft text has nothing to do with the title of the resolution, but on the contrary is a pretext used by Russia to justify its brutal war against its country and the heinous crimes against humanity,” explains the United Nations website. For their part, Canada and the United States have opposed this draft resolution, which they believe aims to legitimize discourse based on disinformation. They were supported by Japan and Britain, the latter noting that the “Putin regime” commits the most devastating acts, similar to some of the worst regimes of the 20th century. […] Croatia said it voted against the text “for the first time in ten years”. For its part, Slovenia expressed its opposition to the approach defended in the text, as did Iceland, which, on behalf of a group of countries, rejected “instrumentalisation” intended to justify aggression against a sovereign state.
A similar resolution has been passed every year since 2005
The delegation representing the European Union also issued a press release to explain the reasons justifying its Member States’ opposition to this resolution. This statement first provides an overview of the context of the vote on the resolution: “Today, under the pretext of fighting Nazism, Russia has brought back the horrors of war in Europe and reminded that peace cannot be taken for granted. We condemn in the strongest terms the misuse of the anti-Nazism argument and reject Russia’s inaccurate and inappropriate use of the term “denazification” to justify its inhumane, cruel and unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine.” Then reiterates that the EU’s position, who “has stood for years that the fight against extremism and the condemnation of the despicable ideology of Nazism should not be diverted and co-opted for political ends that seek to excuse new violations of the law and further abuses of human rights,” forced him to protest voices.
So if opposition to this resolution has increased in the context of the war in Ukraine unleashed by Russia, this is not new. As CheckNews recalled in an article published in March, every year since 2005 Russia has submitted resolutions with the same purpose for the vote of the 193 members of the UN General Assembly. The text originally aimed to proclaim the “unacceptance of certain practices that help fuel contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, and it was only in 2012 that the condemnation of “glorification of Nazism” appeared in its title. on.
Australia’s ‘concern’ over Russian text
In our March article, we have already underlined, with supporting analysis from historians and specialists of the Slavic world, that the submission of draft resolutions for voting by the United Nations is at the heart of a “war of memories” between Russia and the Soviet Union states, in which the Russian power is trying to play its best role. Thus, these texts would carry a rhetoric that cast all opponents of Stalinism on the side of Nazi collaborators. At the same time, the content of the resolutions has become stricter since 2013, calling on states to “take measures to fight against any demonstration organized to the glory of the SS organization and its components”. A phrase that could probably justify Russia entering into conflict with its neighbors, both Ukraine and the Baltic States, in the name of the values defended by the United Nations.
The United States was the only country to consistently vote against each of these resolutions. In 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea, they were joined by Ukraine. Until then, the European Union, including France, preferred to hold back. Its member states only voted against it in 2011. Other members of the United Nations followed the American line at times, such as Canada between 2011 and 2015, but also Japan in 2005 and 2006. .
It should be noted that this year states not only opposed the text, but also tried to change its content. Therefore, before voting on the draft resolution as a whole, Australia (supported by Japan, Liberia and North Macedonia) tabled a draft amendment referenced “A /C.3 /77 /L .52” which attempted to add a paragraph to which Text in which the United Nations General Assembly “describes with concern that the Russian Federation has tried to justify its territorial aggression against Ukraine by invoking the elimination of neo-Nazism and stresses that invoking neo-Nazism as a pretext used to justify the territory aggression seriously jeopardizes the measures taken to truly combat this scourge”. The draft amendment was finally adopted with 63 votes in favour, 23 against and 65 abstentions.