The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution designating January 27 as an annual day to commemorate the Jewish and other victims of the Holocaust.
The resolution, first proposed by Australia, Canada, Israel, the Russian Federation and the United States, was co-sponsored by more than 90 countries. It was adopted by consensus.
January 27 commemorates the liberation of the Nazi death camps in Europe in 1945.
The resolution urges the assembly’s 191 member states to put in place educational programmes aimed at teaching future generations the lessons of the genocide so it will not be repeated in the future. In addition, it rejects any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event and calls on UN chief Kofi Annan to set up a Holocaust outreach programme.
It also condemns ”without reserve all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief, wherever they occur.” – AFP
