Economic and Social Council marks victory over nazism and fascism.

Economic and Social Council marks victory over nazism and fascism

The Economic and Social Council held a solemn commemorative ceremony in New York on 8 May to observe the fortieth anniversary of the victory over nazism and fascism in the Second World War.

The meeting was held in accordance with General Assembly resolution 39/114, which declared 8 and 9 May 1985 to be "the days of the fortieth anniversary of victory over nazism and fascism in the Second World War and of that struggle against them". At the council's organizational session, held at Headquarters from 5 to 8 February, it had decided to hold such a ceremony on 8 or 9 May.

Following a statement by Council President Tomohiko Kobayashi (Japan), Council members, at the President's suggestion, observed a minute of silence.

The Council President said the realities of the world were not yet in keeping with the hopes placed in the United Nations by its founders, as demonstrated by the many armed conflicts, the violations of human right in some parts of the world, the arms race and the vast regions of poverty and misery. Faced with that situation, the international community had the responsibility to maintain international peace and security, and the major Powers had to activate their dialogue to overcome their differences.

The United Nations, he went on, had been born out of the ruins and devastation of the Second World War, and was an indispensable instrument of international co-operation, which should seek to bequeath to coming generations a better world.

Fifteen other speakers, including Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, spoke on the occasion.

Manuel dos Santos (mozambique), on behalf of the African Group, said that the defeat of nazism and fascism was the best testimony of what men and women could accomplish when they pooled their sacrifices, resources and determination to defend the best of what they had in common.

The African continent had been one of the arenas of the Second World War. The African peoples had contributed to the downfall of the Axis Powers. There had been African soldiers in the contingents of the Allied Forces in Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia. About 3 million people had been recruited in Africa. Their courage and endurance had made a valuable contribution to the liberation of Europe.

One would have though that, at the end of the Second World War, all those who had participated in the struggle against nazism and fascism would have benefited from the victory. That, however, had not been the case. After the War, Africa had had to struggle to regain every inch from the colonial claws. The economic strategies and plans for the reconstruction of Europe and Japan had not been extended to Africa, which was now reaping the fruits of neglect: illiteracy, disease, malnutrition and hunger.

The celebration of the end of the Second World War should constitute an opportunity to draw lessons for the present and the future, and to face honestly the fundamental challenges to the international community, one of which was the elimination of apartheid and all forms of racial discrimination and colonialism.

Saoud Bin Salim Bin Hassan al-Ansi (Oman), on behalf of the Asian Group, said the Council was meeting to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the victory over nazism and to remember that the United Nations had been created to defend the dignity and worth of the human person and to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

In some countries of Asia, the Second World war had continued to be felt months after the hostilities had ended in Europe, and Japan in particular had been the victim of atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some peoples of Asia still continued to suffer from the consequences of that war, and a clear example was the Middle East, especially Palestine and the occupied Arab territories. The efforts of the United Nations in the struggle against fascism and against all racial practices and ideologies based on racial hatred deserved strong support.

Carlos M. Muniz (Argentina), on behalf of the Latin American Group, said that it was gratifying to note that, at the end of the War with the defeat of nazism and fascism, it had been possible to create at San Francisco a system which for 40 years had...