The General secretary of the UN, António Guterres, affirmed this Saturday that “we must commit ourselves to denounce every time we witness hate and defend human rights and dignity for all”.
“The Holocaust did not happen as a ‘lesson’ for humanity, but it did happen. And because it happened, it can happen again,” Guterres said at the annual ceremony held at New York’s historic Park East Synagogue to commemorate the release of prisoners. from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“We must never let our guard down. We must always be vigilant,” he warned, “because the painful truth is that, even today, anti-Semitism is everywhere. If anything, it is increasing in intensity.”
And the same goes for other forms of racism and hatred: bigotry against Muslims; xenophobia; homophobia; and misogyny. In fact, the head of the UN explained that neo-Nazi white supremacist movements today represent the main threat of internal insecurity in several countries, and the one that is growing the fastest.
“Their poison is passing from the margins to the majority,” Guterres said, citing the demonization of the other, contempt for diversity, defamation of democratic values and disregard for human rights as “evils that are not new to our time. What’s new is its range and its speed.”
stop hate speech
The bigoted racist who in the past could have spread his hatred even at his dinner table today has a microphone with worldwide reach, said the Secretary-General, adding: “The paranoid conspiracy theorist who in the past could have found a single acquaintance in whom to trust, today finds a like-minded community of millions of people on the Internet”.
“The consequences are as worrying as they are dangerous,” he stressed, recalling that on Friday, during the annual ceremony of the general Assembly of the UN in memory of the Holocaust, issued an appeal to curb hate and create protective barriers.
“I denounced social media companies, tech companies and advertisers for their complicity in spreading vile lies for profit. I called for regulation to debug accountability. And I asked all of us to stand up and stand against hate . We must confront falsehoods with facts, ignorance with education, indifference with commitment.” stated.
Religious leaders and governments must step up
Guterres followed his explanation by pointing out that religious leaders around the world have the duty to prevent the instrumentalization of hate and appease extremism among its followers. At the same time, governments have a responsibility to educate about the horrors of the Holocaust.
“The United Nations – through our Holocaust Outreach Program– are at the forefront of this crucial work. And as there are fewer and fewer direct witnesses, “we will have to find new ways to keep the torch of memory alive. Within families and between generations. In classrooms and across regions. We must tell the stories of the persecuted.” , he detailed.
Those stories must include the mass murder of the Roma and Sinti; the torture and murder of other victims persecuted by the Nazis: people with disabilities; Germans of African descent; homosexuals; Soviet prisoners of war; and political dissidents and countless others.
“And above all, we must tell the stories of all the children, women and men who were systematically murdered and who together made up the rich and vibrant mosaic that made up Jewish life in Europe. We must remember the Holocaust not like the story of 6 million deaths, but like 6 million different death storiesGuterres said.
Honor the memory of the deceased
The Secretary General added that our responsibility is to honor the memory of those who perished, “but also to know the truth of what happened and to ensure that neither we nor future generations ever forget it” and that we must “reject impunity for the perpetrators anywhere. To oppose those who deny, distort, downplay, revise or otherwise cover up their own complicity or that of their fellow citizens.”
Quoting renowned academic and chronicler Victor Klemperer, the UN headline stated: “Curious: at the very moment when modern technology erases all borders and distances…, the most extreme nationalism wreaks havoc.”
Although the passage was written in the 1930s, Guterres noted that it has a haunting echo today.
“Our response must be clear. We must strengthen our defenses and push back those who seek to deny the past in order to reshape the future. We must commit ourselves, not just to remember, but to speak out and stand up. Denounce hate wherever we see it and stand up for human rights and the dignity of all, today and always”, concluded the Secretary General.
