UNICs promote UN Issues

Fifty history and geography high school teachers participated in workshop about the Holocaust and the prevention of genocide that was organized by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of Holocaust.

This workshop, held on Monday 28 January 2008 in Brazzaville, aimed to reinforce the ability of the teachers to inform their students on the causes and consequences of genocides, ways to prevent them from recurring, and how to fight against racism, intolerance and exclusion. This session on the Holocaust and prevention of genocide is the first one of this kind to be organized in the Republic of the Congo.

On 25 January 2008 UNIC Rio de Janeiro, in partnership with the Israeli Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FIERJ), organized an event to mark this year’s celebration of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

This year’s event was a very special one since the President of Brazil, Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, accompanied by the First Lady, closed the ceremony. Many other government officials, both at the federal and local levels, were also present, such as the Special Secretary for Human Rights, Minister Paulo Vannuchi, the State Governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, the State Governor of Bahia, Jaques Wagner, as well as the American and the Israeli Ambassadors. Religious leaders, representatives of other minorities who suffered during the Holocaust, NGOs, the consular corps, artists, and others were among the 600 persons who attended the two-hour ceremony, which took place at the Itamaraty Palace, where UNIC Rio de Janeiro is located.

UNIS Vienna marked the 3rd annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust with a special Remembrance ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna on Friday on 25 January 2008. Representatives of the Vienna Jewish community, the Romany community, Ambassadors, United Nations Permanent Representatives, other members of the diplomatic community, Austrian officials, staff of the Vienna-based international organizations, secondary school students, media, civil society and non-governmental organizations all responded well to the invitation, bringing the number of participants to around 150 persons.

The keynote presentation was delivered by Mr. Raimund Fastenbauer, Secretary-General of the Federal Association of the Jewish Religious Communities in Austria. In his speech he thanked the United Nations for creating the International Day and quoted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "We must apply the lessons of the Holocaust to today's world. We must go beyond remembrance. Then we can avoid reoccurrence."

The public discussion called "The Memory of the Holocaust and Ukrainian Society: Educational Perspective" was conducted on 28 January 2008 in Kyiv on observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Aimed at encouraging discussion on Holocaust education and remembrance in Ukraine, the event was organized by the UN in Ukraine in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies.

Among the participants of this discussion were UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Francis M. O'Donnell, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ukraine Zina Kalay-Kleitman, Special Ambassador on Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleksandr Gorin, Director of the Philosophy Institute of the National Academy of Ukraine academician Myroslav POPOVYCH, Director of the Holocaust Study Centre in Ukraine Anatloiy PODOLSKY as well as over 70 teachers, scientists, civil society activists and researchers, governmental authorities and international community representatives and journalists.

During this one-day discussion, the participants exchanged opinions on the methodology of Holocaust teaching in the Ukrainian schools and Universities, as well as informal opportunities for teachers. At the final session, the recommendations for the governmental and civil society stakeholders were developed to foster Holocaust remembrance and teaching in Ukraine. Please read the full story at http://www.un.org.ua/en/news/2008-01-27/ .

In observance of the International Day of of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, 27 January 2008, UNIC Manila partnered with the Unicef Volunteers’ Organization of the Lyceum of the Philippines to hold a forum on the Holocaust and film showing entitled "One Survivor Remembers." The film tells the unforgetable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein’s six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. Klein describes her years in Nazi labor camps and months spent during the death march in severe weather conditions.

This year at the initiative of the DPI component of the UN Office in Belarus the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed for the first time in Belarus.

During the Second World War more than eight hundred thousand Belarusian Jews perished within the walls of two hundred ghettos in Belarus. The Minsk ghetto had been one of the largest ghettos in Europe and the second largest in the territory of the former USSR. There had been more than one hundred thousand prisoners in the Minsk ghetto. More than six hundred Belarussian citizens of various ethnic backgrounds were granted "The Righteous Among the Nations" title for their help.

Special event to commemorate this Day was held at the National House of Culture of Veterans on January 27, 2008. The event was sponsored by the DPI unit, NGOs "National Holocaust Fund" and Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities.

The DPI Officer-in-Charge Victor Radivinovski expressed solidarity with the Holocaust victims on behalf of the United Nations and urged to be vigilant in the face of new challenges such as neo-nazism and extremism. Chairman of the National Holocaust Fund and Deputy Commissioner on religions and minorities underlined the importance of teaching about the Holocaust. The survivors from the ghetto and the death camps as well as the liberators of Auschwitz shared their memories with the audience. Six candles in memory of six million of Jews killed during the Holocaust were lit by the speakers.

Around 300 World War II veterans, governmental officials, representatives and NGOs, teachers, universtiy and elementary school students took part in the event.

To commemorate the International Day in Memory of Victims of the Holocaust, UNIC Pretoria arranged for a formal ceremony to be held at the world-renowned Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg on 27 January 2008. The audience of approximately 120 people comprised students, holocaust and genocide survivors, diplomats, journalists, academics and other civil society representatives, as well as general visitors to the Museum.

Mr. Don Krausz, a survivor of the Nazi camps, gave a moving testimony of his experiences as a teenager. His account of the hardships endured as well as the ability to survive and triumph above such suffering provided an important personal account of the Holocaust and its implications. Mr Krausz was introduced by Ms Tali Nates from the Johannesburg Holocaust Centre, who elaborated on the work being done in South Africa to promote Holocaust awareness particularly among the youth. Ms Nates spoke about UNIC’s role in selecting two South African high school students to participate in the International Youth Congress on the Holocaust taking place in January 2008 in Jerusalem.

In commemoration of the International Day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, UNIC Bujumbura organized an educational outreach event with the high school students of "Ecole Independante of Bujumbura" school on 1February 2008. The event included a brief introductory course on the Jews History by the History Teacher at the above school, followed by the occasional words by by the UNIC NIO. The UN Exhibit captions were reproduced and exhibited at the above school and the NIO organized guided visit by the students and teachers. UNIC also screened a film entitled "Les Justes" from the Shoah Memorial of Paris. 112 students participated in the activity. The SG's message on the above Day as well as the the GA Resolutions 60/7 and 60/225 were printed and distributed to the participants. The event was covered by the BINUB media.

On 28 January 2008, to commemorate the Holocaust Remembrance Day, UNIC Antananarivo organized a videoconference within the Memorial de la Shoah in Paris at the Common House of the United Nations at Galaxy Andraharo, Antananarivo.

Among the guest speakers were Henri Borlant, survivor of the Holocaust at Auschwitz, Claude Singer, historian, and Karel Fracapane, from the Memorial of La Shoah in Paris.

About 40 Malagasy persons attended this meeting. Among them there were students from different colleges and universities from the capital, representatives of the youth network for the MDGs, representatives of media network for the MDGs, historians, an expert on human rights and teachers.

The United Nations Information Centre Lusaka together with United Nations Youth Association of Zambia (YUNA) hosted the third International Day of the Remembrance of the Victims of Holocaust at the University of Zambia (UNZA) Monday 28th January 2008 where a candle vigil and a local acappella group provided solemn music. A total of 154 people drawn from schools, colleges and associations within Lusaka attended the colorful ceremony.

The UNIC Nairobi organized the commemoration of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday 26 January 2006.

At the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), Kenya's last Holocaust survivor, Mr. Ezra Pakter, representatives of the Jewish community in Kenya, members of the Nairobi diplomatic corps, UN staff, as well as a large number of school children currently engaged in a Model United Nations, filled the seats of the room to mark the day. An exhibition of 60 panels of photographs depicting the persecution of Jews and other minorities during the years of the Third Reich was also on display in the Main Lobby Area.

The Director-General of UNON and UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka opened the commemoration by reading out the message of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. She was followed by the German Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Walter Lindner. The Ambassador of Israel to Kenya, H.E. Emanuel Seri made remarks appealing to people not to be swayed by those "engaged in the denial of the Holocaust" before he lead the participants in a particularly moving Jewish prayer to conclude the event.

The Information Officer of UNIC Kathmandu has visited 21 high schools in the Morang district of Nepal and interacted with some 3000 high school students. The Information Officer appraised them of UN's engagement, both internationally and in Nepal, with focus in areas of peace, development (MDGs) and human rights. Even the students of remote village schools possessed an astounding amount of knowledge about the UN on issues ranging from the nuclear proliferation to the 'US influence over the UN'.

Despite political disturbances in area of the visit, the education outreach activity was highly beneficial to the local students and teachers because high school students have a chapter on UN in their school curriculum.

On January 27 UNIC Baku marked the International Day of Commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust. The Ambassador of Israel, H.E. Arthur Lenk, the UN Resident Coordinator, and the Director of the Department of Press & Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan , Mr. Tahir Taghi-Zadeh, attended this event.

The UN Resident Coordinator asked that a minute of silence to be observed. The Ambassador of Israel offered his gratitude to the UNO DPI for organizing this event for the first time in Azerbaijan. Later on, Mr. Taghi – Zadeh mentioned the importance of Human Rights and the multi-faceted and poly-ethnic population that Azerbaijan has always had.

To close the occasion, the Director of the Department of Press & Information read the message from the Secretary General, Ban Ki- Moon, which was provided by the DPI in English, Russian and Azeri.