UN Special Coordinator Serry attends International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust – UNSCO statement

Special Coordinator Serry attends event marking
the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust  

Jerusalem, 27 January 2015

On 27 January 2015, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Mr. Robert Serry participated in a special event at the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem marking the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, which was attended by Prime Minister Netanyahu and representatives of the international community. This date, 27th of January, has been designated by the UN General Assembly as a day of remembrance every year commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp seventy years ago.

In his remarks, Mr. Serry paid tribute to all Holocaust survivors and said that the United Nations was born in response to the unbearable suffering of the dark war years. He recalled the Secretary-General’s message to the General Assembly during its first ever special meeting dedicated to the rise in anti-Semitism worldwide last week in New York [on 22 January 2015]: “a United Nations that wants to be true to its founding aims and ideals has a duty to speak out against anti-Semitism.” Mr. Serry said this had happened recently in France, and that “we must fight anti-Semitism wherever it raises its ugly presence”.

Mr. Serry remarked that Yad Vashem’s mission to preserve the memory and story of each of the six million Jewish victims, and to impart the legacy of the Holocaust for generations to come through its archives, library, school, and museums, serves not only as a keystone for remembrance, but also as a commitment to future generations and to a vision of human co-existence.

ENDS

http://www.unsco.org/Documents/Statements/SC/2015/Press%20Release%2027%20January%202015.pdf