– As delivered –
Statement by H.E. Tijjani Muhammad Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
27 January 2020
Mr. Secretary General,
Ms. Under Secretary General for Global Communications,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Holocaust remains the most horrific genocide in human history. Today, we are privileged to listen to Ms. Irene Shashar and Mr. Shraga Milstein, two Holocaust survivors, who overcame the severest form of persecution.
Their reminiscences energise our collective consciousness for a more inclusive, peaceful and harmonious global community that encourages unity in diversity.?
The chilling account of their experiences should serve as a reminder to all of us that we need to do more for humanity to ensure that we continue to promote respect for individual human beings and multilateralism as a potent instrument for resolving conflicts and avoiding acts and of contrivances that could lead to dehumanizing others, leading to heinous crimes such as the Holocaust.
More importantly, they remind us of the constant need to be vigilant by collectively promote efforts that discourage hate slogans and speeches, including other intolerable vices that fuel discrimination, xenophobia and other prejudices.
Excellencies,
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted on 10 December 1948, emerged from the ashes of the Second World War.
With the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed “never again” to allow the atrocities like those of that conflict to happen again.?
Many systematic acts of violence today remind us of the consequences of the international community’s inability to act or even slowness of acting.
Seventy-five years after the Holocaust, it is difficult to grasp the level of hatred that killed six million Jews. At least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz.
The Holocaust was a crime against humanity, and the darkness of Auschwitz seems inconceivable.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Recent polls have shown that the understanding of the Holocaust is fading with each generation.
At the same time, we experience a wave of anti-Semitism plaguing countries around the world.
?Young people today are bound to be leaders of tomorrow. We need to ensure that these atrocities of the Holocaust are not repeated. The responsibility for educating the young about this and all heinous crimes is ours.
We have an obligation to educate young people about what happens when human dignity is in jeopardy.
It is important to present this history to young people in a way that they can understand the lessons learned and develop a moral compass that makes central, the virtues of tolerance, acceptance and solidarity.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted on 10 December 1948, emerged from the ashes of the Second World War. With the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed “never again” to allow the atrocities like those of that conflict to happen again.?
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In Conclusion, let me state that as members of the peace-loving global community, we have always to remember the victims of the Holocaust and ensure that their experiences serve as a constant reminder of the need to promote peace, harmony, tolerance, cooperation and inclusion in our collective aspirations for a more peaceful and prosperous world.