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UN General Assembly- 3C: Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance

15.11.2025
New York
Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York

14 November 2025, New York - Statement delivered at the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee, 80th Session, in regards to the Resolution: “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, on the EU Explanation of Vote (before the vote on the amendment L.56).

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina* and Georgia, as well as San Marino align themselves with this statement.

Please, don’t take our word for it.

Take instead the words of Professor E. Tendayi Achiume, Professor of Law at UCLA. Born in Zambia, later a legal clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and latterly the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

In her report, in response to a previous edition of this resolution, she was unsparing in her criticism of the “blatant instrumentalization of … serious human rights concerns”.

The rest of her words will be familiar to you because they are quoted verbatim in L.56.

They are worth repeating. “The Special Rapporteur notes, with alarm, that the Russian Federation has sought to justify its military invasion and territorial aggression in Ukraine on the purported basis of eliminating neo-Nazism. … The use of neo-Nazism as a pretext to justify territorial aggression seriously undermines genuine attempts to combat neo-Nazism. The Special Rapporteur denounces and condemns in the strongest terms such pretextual use, including in relation to the unlawful breach of the sovereign territory of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis that breach has caused.”

We invite you to defend the integrity of this committee, and reject attempts to undermine it.

We urge all Member States to join us in voting YES to amendment L.56.

Thank you.


 

*North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.