Dec. 11



USA:

U.S. Wants Special U.N. Holocaust Session


The United States asked Friday for a special session of the General
Assembly in January to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the
Nazi concentration camps in World War II.

In a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth
requested that the proper steps be taken to convene a commemorative
session of the 191-member assembly.

Danforth said the gathering should be convened Jan. 24, 2005, three days
before a similar event in the former Auschwitz death camp in Poland.
Between 1 million and 1.5 million prisoners -- most of them Jews --
perished in gas chambers or died of starvation and disease at Auschwitz.
Advancing Soviet troops liberated the camp Jan. 27, 1945.

``We believe that it is important that the United Nations, an organization
that rose out of the ashes World War II and the Holocaust, mark this
occasion in a manner fitting its historical significance,'' Danforth
wrote.

``This is a unique opportunity for us all to remember and recommit to the
founding principles and noble ideals upon which the United Nations was
founded.''

The United Nations was founded Oct. 24, 1945.

(source: Associated Press)



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U.S. Seeks UN Session Marking Auschwitz Anniversary


The United States, backed by 30 other nations, asked the U.N. General
Assembly on Friday to convene a special session next month to mark the
60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

All 25 nations of the European Union, Russia, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and Israel joined Washington in calling for a U.N. commemoration
of the anniversary on Jan. 24, U.S. officials said.

Soviet Red Army troops freed the Auschwitz concentration camp in southern
Poland on Jan. 27, 1945, and the anniversary of that date is to be
observed in 2005 as Holocaust Memorial Day.

An assembly session on the Holocaust would mark a change in focus for the
assembly which typically meets several days a year to discuss and vote on
issues relating to Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

U.S. Ambassador John Danforth, in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, said the 191-nation General Assembly should convene three days
before the actual anniversary to avoid conflicting with a similar event in
Auschwitz to be attended by several heads of state.

``Citizens of many nations were victims of the concentration camps, forces
from numerous states participated in their liberation and survivors reside
in many countries throughout the world.'' Danforth said.

``We believe that it is important that the United Nations, an organization
that rose out of the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust, mark this
important occasion in a manner fitting its historical significance,'' he
said.

Six million Jews were exterminated in Nazi camps and millions of others
including Poles, homosexuals, Soviet prisoners and Gypsies, also known as
Roma, were among those killed, imprisoned or used as slave labor in the
camps.

Under assembly rules, a majority of U.N. members must agree to the request
within 30 days for the session to be convened.

Danforth called for the special session under a rule putting the matter in
the hands of Annan rather than assembly President Jean Ping of Gabon.

(source: Reuters)