UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan strongly opposed any effort to question or deny the Holocaust, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday.

"The Secretary-General personally believes that any attempt to cast doubt on the reality of this unique and undeniable horror must be firmly resisted by all people of goodwill and of whatever faith," Dujarric told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, referring to reports that Iran would host a conference next week to discuss the scale and nature of the Nazi slaughter of six million Jews.

He stressed that the UN chief would deeply deplore any conference whose purpose is to question or deny the reality of the Holocaust.

"Only a year ago the General Assembly passed a resolution which rejects any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or part," Dujarric said, adding that in the same resolution, the General Assembly also designated Jan. 27 as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

He noted that Annan spoke to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the issue when he met with him in Tehran in September, and Annan also voiced shock last year when the Iranian leader was first reported to have made the remarks and to have called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Israel is a full UN member and its rights need to be fully respected, just like those of all the other 191 member states, the UN spokesman emphasized.

Source: Xinhua