UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The United States has introduced a resolution in the U.N. General Assembly condemning "any denial of the Holocaust," in which 6 million Jews were killed.
The measure was co-sponsored by Russia, said Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Moscow's envoy to the world organization. Scores of nations already have signed on as co-sponsors in the 192-member assembly.
The draft put forward by Washington Tuesday recalls "Jan. 27 has been designated by the United Nations as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust" during World War II.
Since it falls on Saturday this year, it is being marked at U.N. World Headquarters in New York Monday. Washington hopes for a vote on the draft Friday.
Although not mentioned by name the measure is clearly directed at Tehran. Only last month President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran hosted a conference where most speakers denied or expressed doubt about the Holocaust.
The draft non-binding resolution urges all U.N. members "unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end."
It also "welcomes the inclusion by member states within their educational programs of measures to confront attempts to deny or minimize the importance of the Holocaust."
Some 6 million Jews and millions of other minorities including Gypsies and homosexuals were exterminated by the Nazis during the World War II.
