REMEMBRANCE AND BEYOND
On 1 November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 60/7 designating 27 January as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
The resolution rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event and urges Member States to develop educational programs that will instruct future generations about the horrors of genocide and condemns all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or 49 violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief.
27 January was chosen to be International Holocaust Remembrance Day as it marks the day on which the largest Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) was liberated by the mSoviet army in 1945. Several countries already observe this day to remember Holocaust victims.
Following the adoption of the resolution in 2005, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan characterized the day as an important reminder of the universal lessons of the Holocaust, a unique evil which cannot simply be consigned to the past and forgotten.
The horrors of World War sparked the creation of the United Nations. Human rights for all without distinction as to race, gender, language or religion is one of the fundamental mandates recorded in its Charter. Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations 49 General Assembly reaffirms that the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people along with countless members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice.
The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Program was created at the request of the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 60/7. It seeks to mobilize civil society for Holocaust education and remembrance to remind the world of the lessons to be learned from the Holocaust in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is committed to continuing to preserve the memory and lessons learned from the Holocaust.
The International Day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is thus a day on which we must reassert our commitment to human rights...We must also go beyond remembrance, and make sure that new generations know this history. We must apply the lessons of the Holocaust to today