The Permanent Mission Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran To The UN

Explanation of Position of the Islamic Republic of Iran

By Mr. Hossein Gharibi, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran ,

on the Draft Resolution entitled "Holocaust Denial"

Before the General Assembly on its 85 th Plenary Meeting

January 26, 2007

Madame President,

I wish to place on record my delegation's deep concern over and rejection of the attempts made by certain members to misuse the General Assembly's procedure to raise an issue that has neither been on the agenda of its 61 st Session, nor has it any relevance to the agenda item under which the resolution at hand has been tabled. There is every reason to believe that today's attempt is both procedurally and substantively flawed.

Indeed, the intention behind this move can by no means be regarded as a genuine one. The main sponsors' aim to present this draft resolution to the Assembly lies on their mischievous intention to pursue their narrow political interests through all means, including the misuse of this august body.

Madam President,

If the thrust of the draft resolution is to condemn the crime of genocide, the Assembly, through a great number of resolutions, has already addressed this concern of grave nature. We, like many other countries, have condemned genocide against any race, ethnic or religious group as a crime against humanity. We reiterate this unambiguous position in this meeting today. In our view, there is no justification for genocide of any kind, nor can there be any justification for the attempts made by some, particularly by the Israeli regime, to exploit the past crimes as a pretext to commit new genocides and crimes.

Moreover, many abhorrent cases of genocide that have regrettably occurred throughout history necessitate a thorough and comprehensive examination by the international community, in order to prevent the recurrence of such crimes in the future. Imposing a restrictive approach on such an examination will not certainly serve this purpose. Only by studying objectively what happened in the past, can we ensure that such crimes will never be repeated again.

Undoubtedly, addressing historical events of horrific enormity, with a view to avoiding their recurrence, requires a commensurate degree of research, scrutiny and rigor. The seriousness and sincerity of this endeavor would be indeed undermined by rendering political judgments on such events and closing the door to any inquiry on their characteristics, scope and extent. The basic principles of democracy, including the right to freedom of expression and belief, should pave the way for exploring different aspects of historical events without any arbitrary restrictions.

Moreover, genocide and the immense sufferings associated with that horrific crime should not be manipulated for political purposes. Regrettably, the Israeli regime has routinely attempted to exploit the sufferings of the Jewish people in the past as a cover for the crimes its has perpetrated over the past six decades against Palestinians in the occupied territories, including massacre, targeted assassination, ethnic cleansing and state terrorism. The international community should take strong action against such atrocious crimes of that regime and not allow it to manipulate humanitarian sentiments to pursue its illegitimate goals.

We are of the view that the main aims behind tabling this resolution are any thing but a true concern about genocide or the sufferings it brings about. Had it not been the case, the main sponsors of the draft resolution must have referred to other cases of genocide perpetrated in various parts of the world in the past and at present, especially the crimes perpetrated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Palestine, Rwanda and the Balkans that have inflicted enormous suffering and pain to the mankind.

In view of the above, we fully dissociate ourselves from this entire hypocritical political exercise.

Thank you Madam President.